08-04-2025
Rare 'Dire Wolf' Is the First of Its Kind to Exist in Over 10,000 Years
Time Magazine shared big news coming out of the animal world on Monday, April 7th. They featured a video on TikTok that introduced us to three dire wolf cubs, wolves that have been extinct for more than 10,000 years. The breed has been reintroduced to the world by Colossal Biosciences.
The dire wolf, a breed made famous by the Game of Thrones television series, is the first known de-extinction animal. By analyzing their ancient DNA from fossils, Colossal edited the genomes of modern gray wolves, and the result produced three dire wolf cubs, aptly named Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi after Game of Thrones characters.
This de-extinction process sparked a lot of debate across social media channels, with some people excited by the opportunities that lie ahead and others afraid of what this could mean ethically.
Time's TikTok has millions of views and more than 5 thousand comments already. @Diamond got more than 15 thousand likes when she suggested, "Can we focus on not letting our earth die before we bring back animals?"@The Cow pointed out, "So from what I've seen so far, if it walks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and swims like a duck, is it a duck. To me, no, this isn't a dire wolf; it's a gray wolf modified to play the role." @Carlos Eduardo Perez agreed, "Aenocyon Dirus =/= Canis Lupus. That's not a dire wolf."
Another commenter added, "Calling these grey wolves '"Dire wolves" is news media spin. These are 100% grey wolves that had their DNA sequenced to appear like dire wolf DNA. They are just phenotypically different grey wolves."
Commenter @Lew pointed out, "For people saying 'stop playing god', sit down n shush. This is a milestone, it'll bring back animals that WE drove to extinction. We are doing this to fix OUR destruction on the natural planet." @T made a great point, "Why work on an extinct species first when the goal is to bring back endangered species?" @Beavers got more than 20 thousand likes when they added, "GIVE US THE DODO BIRD!"
What species are next on the list for Colossal? According to a lengthy Time Magazine article, "Also on their de-extinction wish list is the woolly mammoth, the dodo, and the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger."
I can see using this science to help protect and stop the extinction of nearly extinct animals, but bringing back already extinct animals could cause some ripple effects that we may not be ready for.
