The wolf at your door might need help to survive as a species
Woo! Science is a column of science news and newsmakers in Worcester and the region. Got a science news idea? Email Margaret Smith at msmith@wickedlocal.com.
They're cute, they're fluffy, they're friend-shaped, for sure. And they walk among us, but, they're not dire wolves. Or are they? Is that even a simple question to answer? They're most certainly not dire wolves in whole genetic cloth, because they've got other stuff in the mix, including from extant wolf species.
As the cubs, dubbed Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi, are off romping and playing, enjoying life, their creation is raising a raft of questions, including about animals, and our relationship to them as fellow creatures.
William Lynn thinks about these issues quite a lot. Lynn, a research scientist at Clark University's George Perkins Marsh Institute, is also creator of PAN Works, a nonprofit think tank dedicated to people, animals and questions of ethics. The acronym PAN stands for people, animals and nature.
When news traveled 'round the world of Dallas-based Colossal Laboratories and Biosciences' bringing back from extinction the canine, which gained a following from the series "Game of Thrones," lots of people wondered if this was fact, or fantasy.
"My first thought was skepticism, and that skepticism has borne out," said Lynn. "This is the creation of a transgenic animal that has dire wolf-like characteristics, in its body size and fur coat color."
On April 11, the Colossal team working on the project published a preliminary preprint paper, a scholarly or scientific report ahead of peer review for an academic or scientific publication. In that preliminary preprint paper, the team explains that they took paleogenomes from two well-preserved dire wolf specimens. In a press release, the company explained that the DNA came from a dire wolf tooth, and a dire wolf skull.
The paper details how the researchers spent more than a year to "decode the dire wolf's evolutionary history," Colossal said in a statement. "We generated high-quality ancient genomes from dire wolves that lived 13,000 and 72,000 years ago. Our analyses show that dire wolves interbred extensively with the lineage that ultimately evolved into gray wolves, suggesting that dire wolves and gray wolves are much more closely related than previously thought."
Lynn said, "This is the creation of a transgenic animal that has dire wolf-like characteristics in its body size and fur coat color."
The company has defended its work, which touched off a firestorm of debate among scientists and ethicists, not only over whether the cubs are in fact, dire wolves, but about the uncertain road of genetic engineering, and whether trying to bring back a long-extinct species is really a great idea.
In Lynn's view, the cubs certainly have some dire wolf information in their genes, but also that of the gray wolf, a species that makes it home in North America, Europe and Asia.
"There are very low rates of success of births with embryo transfers and genetic engineering. Of course, that is also true just normally," Lynn said. "Dire wolves and gray wolves diverged from a common ancestor. They may be in the same family, but not in the same genus." Lynn sees the cubs as "gray wolves with genetic materials from dire wolves."
The dilemma over the ethics of attempting to call back species that went extinct millennia ago intersects with the present-day crisis of animals and plants that have gone extinct, or are in danger of extinction, largely due to human activity, including habitat destruction and climate change.
Another major endeavor by colossal is bringing back the woolly mammoth from extinction. "De-extinction is a fascinating concept, but it is not conservation," Lynn said. The woolly mammoth thundered about for generations until its believed extinction in the Holocene epoch, which started around 11,700 years ago. If the woolly mammoth were to make a comeback with the help of human engineering, Lynn said it probably wouldn't be very happy. "There is no place on the planet woolly mammoths can be set free, to live their lives," Lynn said.
For one thing, the world that the woolly mammoth knew is long gone. A species that went extinct more recently might have a fighting chance, Lynn said. "I'm not absolutely against de-extinction," Lynn said. But in order for such a creature to thrive, it needs a habitat in which it can prosper, and there is something more. Lynn said, "It is going to have to learn all over again, knowing how to hunt, who to hunt, where to hunt. Those are things they pass on from generation to generation."
What does Lynn think people should understand about animals? A beautiful or sympathetic animal that may turn up again and again in your social media feed, such as the Pallas cat, a small and very plush-looking wild cat native to central Asia, is probably going to capture your heart. "When you see a charismatic animal, you are not being manipulated by that animal per se," Lynn said. "You are realizing a creature who is aware, self-aware and social, that has a personality. That is not so different from you and me."
Lynn said, "The other thing I want people to remember is that there are real, live wolves right now, that need your help. If you want to help wolves, there are some things you can do, because they are in danger." Lynn said this includes advocating for legislation to help preserve animal habitat.
When musician Aaron Lewis killed coyotes in a contest, spelling out "Trump 2024" with their bodies, he was met with outrage, but Lynn said the gesture is a piece of a larger picture. "It's about political extremism that wants to emphasize that humans are the most important creature on the planet, and wants to upset those who think otherwise."
But it's not strictly an issue of left or right-leaning politics, Lynn said. There are people who perhaps mean well by feeding coyotes, raccoons and other predators, which can become a big hit on social media. But Lynn said, "That gets them acclimated to being around humans, and it can create problems. Raccoons, for example, are a reservoir for rabies."
In short, living peacefully with our fellow organisms takes some thought, and the answers aren't always clear at first. Putting out bird seed might be a truly helpful and kind gesture, but, "When you are talking about a period of time when you have bird flu, and have a bird feeder and bird bath that spreads disease. It's complicated."
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Woo! Science: Of humans, wolves, and a world of creatures in crisis
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