The Dire Wolf has been extinct for thousands of years. But that didn’t sit well with some scientists, so they pulled something of a ‘Jurassic Park’ to bring the species back to life.
Which animal would you bring back if you could?
Global (08 April 2025) — Like many species from our planet’s past, the Dire Wolf roamed a very different Earth. This was an Earth in which man did not rule over animals, where the fight for survival was tough for all species, and the planet was battling its way through the fierce Ice Age.
The Dire Wolf last howled approximately 10,000 years ago—early on into the warmer Holocene epoch (the era post Ice Age). And, no one ever thought the species would howl again (except maybe on Game of Thrones).
But under the radar, scientists at Colossal Biosciences (who refer to themselves as the ‘de-extinction company) were pulling a ‘Jurassic Park’ to bring the wolf back from the history books. In fact, Jurassic Park even tweeted them once the news came out.
We see no possible way this could go wrong https://t.co/EQaOH4fJYk
— Jurassic World (@JurassicWorld) April 7, 2025
Is This For Real?
You’d be forgiven for thinking this sounds like some sci-fi fever dream. But, unless the scientists fooled the likes of TIME (whose editor Jeffrey Kluger reportedly visited the wolves), there’s good reason to believe that they did give the wolves a second chance…or at least, genetically modified an animal that’s damn-near close. Their names are Romulus, Remus and little (at least by wolf standards) Khaleesi, who was born some time after her brothers.
Let’s Break It Down
Essentially, what Colossal Biosciences is claiming to have done is as follows:
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“These two wolves were brought back from extinction using genetic edits derived from a complete dire wolf genome, meticulously reconstructed by Colossal from ancient DNA found in fossils dating back 11,500 and 72,000 years,” the company said.
Per Jeffrey Kluger’s report, only 20 edits in 14 genes found in the common gray wolf made for the differences that paved the way for Romulus’ and Remus’ Dire Wolf-like genetic make-up
According to Beth Shapiro from Colossal, the two species share 99.5% of their DNA. The first two pups were birthed by surrogate ‘hounds’, via C-section on 1 October 2024.
Summarising all this into a paragraph almost makes it sound simple. But as Ben Lamm (the entrepreneur behind Colossal) explained to the New Yorker’s D.T Max, reviving an extinct mammal “is essentially a high-tech challenge”.
D.T Max explains the experience of meeting the wolves:
“I suddenly saw two shocks of white—the young dire wolves. Both attentive and wary, the animals seemed not from this world.”
Like many others, D.T questioned how much ‘Dire’ was in these wolves. Publications like New Scientist have also challenged the claim that these are Dire Wolves as they once were, expressing instead that they are actually “grey wolves with genetic edits intended to make them resemble the lost species.”
So, which is it? Dire Wolf, or Something Else?
Essentially, it boils down to a matter of classification and how people define species. Shapiro says that the team is using the concept of morphological species, which says, ‘if they look like this animal, then they are this animal’. In the New Yorker, she’s credited with saying that the team created the phenotype of the wolf.
But it’s more than that.
As Lamm explained, “This is the first time these genes have been expressed in over ten thousand years”.
That, as well as behavioural factors yet to be revealed as the pups grow, makes a good argument for the species being very close to what the Dire Wolf once was. Perhaps it’s best to consider it a remix of the Dire Wolf.
Besides, had the species continued to live naturally, it would’ve been different today compared to how it was 10,000 years ago anyway, because that’s the business of evolution.
The magnitude of what’s been achieved isn’t lost on Colossal or people, and the pups likely won’t be the last ‘revived species’ we’ll see from them. In fact, the scientists have a list of species they’re working on, including the Dodo.
“This moment marks not only a milestone for us as a company but also a leap forward for science, conservation, and humanity,” Colossal said. “From the beginning, our goal has been clear: ‘To revolutionize history and be the first company to use CRISPR technology successfully in the de-extinction of previously lost species.’ By achieving this, we continue to push forward our broader mission on—accepting humanity’s duty to restore Earth to a healthier state.”
Which animal would you like to bring back if you could?
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