No, dire wolves extinct for 10,000 years are not back. But this is what de-extinction tech could do
ADVERTISEMENT
Colossal Biosciences, the company behind so-called 'de-extinction tech,' made the headlines appearing on the cover of Time magazine on Monday after claiming to have brought back dire wolves, a species that died out 10 millennia ago.
But beyond hyped headlines about the return of the Game of Thrones wolf, is the science behind the alleged breakthrough backing up the storytelling?
The company used genetic modification technology to create three wolf pups, which range in age from three to six months old, have long white hair, muscular jaws and already weigh in at around 36 kg, on track to reach 63.5 kg at maturity, according to researchers at the company.
Dire wolves, which lived on the American continent before going extinct, are much larger than grey wolves, their closest living relatives today.
It was this living species that was used through genetic engineering, to give life to the three specimens, Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi.
However, independent scientists have been at pains to stress the nuance in the company's statement announcing the species' resurrection.
"All you can do now is make something look superficially like something else," not fully revive extinct species, said Vincent Lynch, a biologist at the University of Buffalo in the US, who was not involved in the research.
How does de-extinction tech work?
Nic Rawlence, an associate professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand, also said that it was impossible to truly de-extinct a species.
'To truly de-extinct something, you would have to clone it. The problem is we can't clone extinct animals because the DNA is not well enough preserved. Even if you sequence the genome, you can't extract DNA from extinct animals in long enough chunks like you could with a living animal,' he said in a statement.
Colossal scientists learned about specific traits that dire wolves possessed by examining ancient DNA from fossils. The researchers studied a 13,000 year-old dire wolf tooth unearthed in Ohio and a 72,000 year-old skull fragment found in Idaho, both part of natural history museum collections.
Then the scientists took blood cells from a living grey wolf and used CRISPR technology (short for (short for 'clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats') to genetically modify them in 20 different sites, said Colossal's chief scientist Beth Shapiro.
They transferred that genetic material to an egg cell from a domestic dog. When ready, embryos were transferred to surrogates, also domestic dogs, and 62 days later the genetically engineered pups were born.
"So what Colossal Biosciences have produced is a grey wolf with dire wolf-like characteristics – this is not a de-extincted dire wolf, rather it's a 'hybrid,'' Rawlence said.
Though the pups may physically resemble young dire wolves, "what they will probably never learn is the finishing move of how to kill a giant elk or a big deer," because they won't have opportunities to watch and learn from wild dire wolf parents, said Colossal's chief animal care expert Matt James.
"Whatever ecological function the dire wolf performed before it went extinct, it can't perform those functions" on today's existing landscapes, Lynch added.
ADVERTISEMENT
Broader application for conservation of other species
Colossal has previously announced similar projects to genetically alter cells from living species to create animals resembling extinct woolly mammoths, dodos and others.
Colossal also reported that it had cloned four red wolves using blood drawn from wild wolves of the southeastern US's critically endangered red wolf population.
The aim is to bring more genetic diversity into the small population of captive red wolves, which scientists are using to breed and help save the species.
This technology may have broader application for conservation of other species because it's less invasive than other techniques to clone animals, said Christopher Preston, a wildlife expert at the University of Montana who was not involved in the research.
ADVERTISEMENT
But it still requires a wild wolf to be sedated for a blood draw and that's no simple feat, he added.
Colossal CEO Ben Lamm said the team met with officials from the US Interior Department in late March about the project.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum praised the work on X on Monday as a "thrilling new era of scientific wonder" even as outside scientists said there are limitations to restoring the past.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LeMonde
7 hours ago
- LeMonde
The mystery of white-nose syndrome, which is killing US bats, is beginning to unravel
One of the last mysteries of "white-nose syndrome," which has been decimating bats in the United States since the winter of 2006-2007, has been solved. A European team, whose study was published in the May 28 issue of the journal Nature, has discovered that the fungus responsible for this epidemic was a double agent from Ukraine. Let's go back to that American winter. Thousands of bats were dying during hibernation in caves in the northeastern United States. Their snouts and wings were covered with a powdery white mold. This was just the beginning of white-nose syndrome, which "caused one of the highest disease-driven death tolls documented in nonhuman mammals," explained the study. Colonies were decimated and some bat species were even threatened with extinction. The mass die-off triggered a chain reaction. A study published in Science in September found that, in response to the collapse of these insect-eating populations, farmers in affected counties used more insecticides, which in turn led to a rise in infant mortality over several years. The culprit was quickly identified: Pseudogymnoascus destructans is a fungus found in Europe and Asia. Adapted to life in darkness, it feeds on the skin of bats.
France 24
3 days ago
- France 24
The promise and peril of a crewed Mars mission
That political momentum, coupled with SpaceX chief Elon Musk's zeal, has breathed new life into a cause long championed by Red Planet advocates -- even as major obstacles remain, including Trump and Musk's latest feud. Why go? As NASA writes in its Moon to Mars blueprint, "exploration of the cosmos remains a great calling for humanity." A mission to Mars would pursue scientific objectives like determining whether Mars ever hosted life and charting the evolution of its surface, as well as answering broader space physics questions -- such as the history of the Sun through studying Martian soil. Geopolitics also looms large, as Trump has pledged to "plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond," invoking the "unlimited promise of the American dream." Critics, however, say cuts to NASA's science budget and the cancellation of key projects -- including the return of rock samples collected by the Perseverance rover -- are undermining the research mission. "The purpose of exploration is not just to go somewhere," Nobel-winning astrophysicist John Mather told AFP. "This is not a tourist thing. This is a fundamental knowledge thing." - Getting there - Musk is betting SpaceX's future on Starship, the largest rocket ever built, despite fiery failures in its nine test flights. He's aiming for an uncrewed launch by late 2026, timed with the next favorable Earth-Mars alignment. But the timeline is widely seen as optimistic: Starship has yet to land its upper stage or demonstrate in-orbit refueling -- both essential for deep space travel. Some experts believe the system is fundamentally sound, while others say it's too soon to judge. "A lot of the pertinent and relevant technical information... is not known to us," Kurt Polzin, chief engineer for NASA's space nuclear propulsion project, told AFP. He backs Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP), which uses fission to heat hydrogen and generate thrust. NTP delivers "a lot of power in a very small package," Polzin said, eliminating the need for orbital refueling or fuel production on Mars. Astronauts would spend seven to nine months in a cramped spacecraft, exposed to intense space radiation beyond Earth's magnetosphere. Ideas to improve radiation shielding range from passive methods, like using dense materials, to active concepts such as plasma fields that deflect radiation, while drugs are being developed to reduce cell damage. Without a system to simulate gravity -- such as rotational spin -- crews would also need grueling exercise routines to counteract muscle and bone loss. Mental health is another concern. Growing plants aboard -- more for morale than sustenance -- has proved beneficial on the ISS. Communication delays further complicate matters. On the station, real-time data has helped prevent an average of 1.7 potentially fatal incidents per year, said Erik Antonsen, chair of NASA's human systems risk board -- but such communication will not be possible en route to Mars. Life on Mars Once on the surface, the uncertainties grow. Probes and rovers have found hints -- organic molecules, seasonal methane -- but no definitive signs of life. If it ever existed, it likely died out long ago. Still, Earth's own "extremophiles" offer intriguing clues -- from fungi that harness Chernobyl's radiation for energy, to microbes that survived 500,000 years in frozen stasis. "If they can survive here in extreme environments, we have every reason to suspect they can be on Mars," said NASA astrobiologist Jennifer Eigenbrode at the recent Humans to the Moon and Mars Summit. And while NASA has decided nuclear fission will power surface operations, other choices -- from crop selection to habitat design -- remain open. "Mars has a 24-hour, 39-minute day -- that small difference creates strain, increases stress, and reduces sleep quality," said Phnam Bagley, a space architect who designs for comfort and crew well-being -- critical factors in preventing conflict. The first trip would be around 500 days on the surface, but long-term colonization raises deeper questions. For instance, scientists don't yet know whether mammalian embryos can develop in low gravity -- or what childbirth on Mars would entail. "I think it's really important to take that seriously," said NASA's Antonsen.
France 24
6 days ago
- France 24
In Canada lake, robot learns to mine without disrupting marine life
The exercise was part of a series of tests the robot was undergoing before planned deployment in the ocean, where its operators hope the machine can transform the search for the world's most sought-after metals. The robot was made by Impossible Metals, a company founded in California in 2020, which says it is trying to develop technology that allows the seabed to be harvested with limited ecological disruption. Conventional underwater harvesting involves scooping up huge amounts of material in search of potato-sized things called poly-metallic nodules. These nodules contain nickel, copper, cobalt, or other metals needed for electric vehicle batteries, among other key products. Impossible Metals' co-founder Jason Gillham told AFP his company's robot looks for the nodules "in a selective way." The prototype, being tested in the province of Ontario, remains stationary in the water, hovering over the lake bottom. In a lab, company staff monitor the yellow robot on screens, using what looks like a video game console to direct its movements. Using lights, cameras and artificial intelligence, the robot tries to identify the sought-after nodules while leaving aquatic life -- such as octopuses' eggs, coral, or sponges -- undisturbed. 'A bit like bulldozers' In a first for the nascent sector, Impossible Metals has requested a permit from US President Donald Trump to use its robot in American waters around Samoa, in the Pacific. The company is hoping that its promise of limited ecological disruption will give it added appeal. Competitors, like The Metals Company, use giant machines that roll along the seabed and suck up the nodules, a highly controversial technique. Douglas McCauley, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told AFP this method scoops up ocean floor using collectors or excavators, "a bit like bulldozers," he explained. Everything is then brought up to ships, where the nodules are separated from waste, which is tossed back into the ocean. This creates large plumes of sediment and toxins with a multitude of potential impacts, he said. A less invasive approach, like that advocated by Impossible Metals, would reduce the risk of environmental damage, McCauley explained. But he noted lighter-touch harvesting is not without risk. The nodules themselves also harbor living organisms, and removing them even with a selective technique, involves destroying the habitat, he said. Impossible Metals admits its technology cannot detect microscopic life, but the company claims to have a policy of leaving 60 percent of the nodules untouched. McCauley is unconvinced, explaining "ecosystems in the deep ocean are especially fragile and sensitive." "Life down there moves very slowly, so they reproduce very slowly, they grow very slowly." Duncan Currie of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition said it was impossible to assess the impact of any deep sea harvesting. "We don't know enough yet either in terms of the biodiversity and the ecosystem down there," he told AFP. According to the international scientific initiative Ocean Census, only 250,000 species are known, out of the two million that are estimated to populate the oceans. High demand Mining is "always going to have some impact," said Impossible Metals chief executive and co-founder Oliver Gunasekara, who has spent most of his career in the semiconductor field. But, he added, "we need a lot more critical minerals, as we want to electrify everything." Illustrating the global rush toward underwater mining, Impossible Metals has raised US$15 million from investors to build and test a first series of its Eureka 3 robot in 2026. The commercial version will be the size of a shipping container and will expand from three to 16 arms, and its battery will grow from 14 to nearly 200 kilowatt-hours. The robot will be fully autonomous and self-propel, without cables or tethers to the surface, and be equipped with sensors. While awaiting the US green light, the company hopes to finalize its technology within two to three years, conduct ocean tests, build a fleet, and operate through partnerships elsewhere in the world. © 2025 AFP
