Latest news with #Aenocyondirus
Int'l Business Times
19-05-2025
- Science
- Int'l Business Times
Colossal's Dire Wolf De-Extinction: The Science Behind the Breakthrough
In a breakthrough that blurs the line between science fiction and reality, biotechnology company Colossal Biosciences has achieved what many thought impossible: bringing an extinct species back to life. On April 8, 2025, Colossal announced the successful birth of three dire wolf pups—Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi—marking the first-ever de-extinction of an animal through advanced genetic engineering. For Australian audiences, this achievement resonates particularly strongly, given the nation's own painful history with extinction and its ongoing battle to preserve unique fauna found nowhere else on Earth. From Ancient DNA to Three Living Pups The dire wolf ( Aenocyon dirus ), an iconic Ice Age predator that disappeared approximately 13,000 years ago, now walks the earth again. Once known only from fossils and popularized in fantasy through works like George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones , these animals represent a historic milestone in scientific achievement. Colossal's de-extinction process involved a sophisticated fusion of ancient DNA analysis, CRISPR gene editing, and reproductive technologies. Rather than finding a perfectly preserved specimen to clone directly, Colossal's team reconstructed the dire wolf genome and engineered living animals to match it. "Our team took DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull and made healthy dire wolf puppies," explained Ben Lamm, CEO of Colossal Biosciences. "It was once said, 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' Today, our team gets to unveil some of the magic they are working on and its broader impact on conservation." De-Extinction Through Genetic Innovation The scientific journey began with extracting genetic material from dire wolf fossils. From these ancient remains, scientists sequenced and assembled the extinct predator's genome, creating a genetic blueprint that would guide the revival process. Comparing this blueprint to the dire wolf's closest living relative—the gray wolf—Colossal's team identified 14 important genes carrying 20 distinct genetic variants that give dire wolves their characteristic features. These included genes influencing size, musculature, skull shape, tooth structure, coat texture, and even vocalization patterns. Using CRISPR technology, scientists edited living cells from gray wolves to carry these dire wolf genes. Twenty precise genetic edits were made to create the dire wolf. After careful genetic modification, Colossal applied cloning techniques to turn these edited cells into embryos. Scientists removed the genetic material from donor egg cells and replaced it with the nucleus of the edited cells. These reconstructed eggs were developed into embryos and implanted into surrogate mothers—domestic dogs, specifically hound mixes—for gestation. The first two pups, Romulus and Remus (both males), were born in October 2024 after approximately 65 days of gestation . A few months later, in January 2025, a third surrogate gave birth to the female pup, Khaleesi. Where Sci-Fi Becomes Reality Now at six months and three months old respectively, the snowy-white dire wolf pups are thriving at a dedicated 2,000-acre protected reserve under round-the-clock care and monitoring. Already exhibiting classic dire wolf traits, they have thick white fur, broad heads, and hefty builds, weighing approximately 80 pounds at just six months old. For comparison, red wolves—one of the largest existing wolf species—typically weigh just 35 to 45 pounds at that age. The stark contrast underscores the dire wolves' massive stature and distinctiveness, even at such an early stage of development. Interestingly, their behavior reflects their wild nature. Unlike domestic puppies, Romulus and Remus keep their distance from humans. They flinch or retreat even from familiar caretakers, demonstrating genuine wild lupine instincts despite never having encountered another dire wolf. This breakthrough is the latest from Colossal's de-extinction platform, which has also created "woolly mice" with mammoth genes. The dire wolf achievement, with even more genetic edits, suggests the company's timeline for reviving other extinct species, including plans to reintroduce the woolly mammoth by 2028 and the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) thereafter, might be feasible. Australian Conservation Applications and Future Impact While the dire wolf never roamed the Australian continent, the technology behind its revival has profound implications for Australia's unique conservation challenges. Australia faces one of the world's most severe extinction crises. As of early 2025, the number of Australian animals, plants, and ecological communities officially recognized as being in danger of extinction has risen to 2,142. The situation continues to worsen, with 144 species added to the threatened species list in 2023 alone—five times more than the yearly average. Beyond the scientific marvel, Colossal emphasizes that de-extinction science directly benefits extant endangered species worldwide, including Australia's threatened fauna. Alongside the dire wolf births, the company announced the successful cloning of two litters of critically endangered red wolves ( Canis rufus ), producing four healthy pups using the same "non-invasive blood cloning" approach developed in the dire wolf work. With fewer than 20 red wolves remaining in the wild in North America, making them the most endangered wolves on the planet, this technological crossover demonstrates immediate conservation applications. The red wolf cloning success could potentially increase the number of founding lineages in the captive breeding population by 25%. "The same technologies that created the dire wolf can directly help save a variety of other endangered animals as well. This is an extraordinary technological leap for both science and conservation," said Dr. Christopher Mason, a Colossal scientific advisor. Perhaps most significantly for Australia, the technologies developed in the dire wolf project are advancing Colossal's work to resurrect the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), one of Australia's most notorious extinction events, occurring less than a century ago. Breakthroughs in October 2024 have produced a 99.9% complete thylacine genome from a 110-year-old preserved specimen. The University of Melbourne's TIGRR lab (Thylacine Integrated Genomic Restoration Research) is collaborating with Colossal on this project, with scientists suggesting the same de-extinction techniques could help protect current endangered Australian species. Ethics and Future Applications The revival of the dire wolf opens unprecedented possibilities for conservation and biodiversity restoration. The American Humane Society has certified Colossal's animal care facilities. For indigenous communities, the revival carries profound cultural significance. This collaborative approach to de-extinction, working with indigenous communities and conservation organizations, creates a model for responsible innovation. George R.R. Martin, author of Game of Thrones and a Colossal investor, captured the wonder of this achievement: "I get the luxury to write about magic, but Ben and Colossal have created magic by bringing these majestic beasts back to our world."
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Those Dire Wolves Aren't an Amazing Scientific Breakthrough. They're a Disturbing Symbol of Where We're Heading.
Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. On Monday, the biotechnology company Colossal Biosciences revealed, with much fanfare, that they have created a trio of white wolf hybrids. Named Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi, these wolves, Colossal says, were created by making 20 edits on 14 gray wolf genes. These were used to generate hybrid cell lines that were placed in donor eggs, carried to term by domestic dogs. Four pups were born, one of which died. The surviving three now run around a 2,000-acre private facility in the United States where they are 'continuously monitored.' It seems that the wolves may never know life outside some kind of confinement. The company calls these creatures dire wolves, claiming to have brought the species Aenocyon dirus back from extinction. Exactly what Colossal accomplished, however, is opaque. The private company did not publish a scientific, peer-reviewed paper along with its media blitz—there was a flurry of credulous articles that I'm sure you've seen on your news feeds—though they promise that a paper is coming next week. A spokesperson told Slate on Wednesday afternoon that the paper has been submitted for peer review, and a preprint version 'is being submitted' and should be posted in a day or two. For now, we have precious little to go on outside of the company's own claims. So, did Colossal actually de-extinct a long lost species? Well, the dire wolf is in the details. First, dire wolves and gray wolves, like the ones whose genes Colossal modified, evolved independently from each other over millions of years, though the exact degree to which they are related might depend on whom you ask. In 2021 a multidisciplinary group of researchers found that fossil dire wolves, like those found by the thousands in L.A.'s La Brea asphalt seep, were not closely related to the wolves that roam our planet today. Dire wolves appeared to be descendants of an older line of canids (the larger family that includes everything from domestic dogs to foxes) that split off from other canids about 5 million years ago. Though they are genetically closer to jackals, they convergently evolved to resemble gray wolves. The skeletal resemblance can be close enough that even experts sometimes have difficulty properly identifying a dire wolf fossil from a prehistoric gray wolf one. When dire wolves went extinct about 10,000 years ago, gray wolves became more numerous and expanded to fill the niches dire wolves left open. That's the current thinking, anyway—as with anything in science, new evidence can change things. Now, Colossal's own researchers have claimed to journalists that their research has again adjusted the picture, proposing that dire wolves arose from interbreeding between two different wolf lineages between 2.5 million and 3.5 million years ago. This would put them a bit closer to gray wolves. It will be useful to see their reasoning for this shift outlined in a scientific paper, in a format where their techniques can be critiqued by other experts, which is a crucial part of scientific research. But even so, it's hard to imagine that even a 'mere' 2.5 million years of evolutionary change can be captured by 20 gene edits. (According to a statement from Colossal Biosciences sent to Slate, the company aimed 'to resurrect the key traits that defined dire wolves.' Its team stopped at 20 edits'[b]ecause we didn't need more' and because every edit poses some risk to the goal of birthing a health animal.) Then there's the Biology 101 fact that an organism is not just its genome. Even if Colossal did make a wolf with a complete Aenocyon dirus genome, those genes would not dictate every choice and every behavior of the creatures they belonged to. The reality is that genes interact with environments, and organisms emerge from the interplay from the two. We know from the fossil record that dire wolves were social creatures, but we're too late to observe exactly how each generation of pups learned skills from the one before it. Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi do not have dire wolf parents to learn from—and we have absolutely no way of knowing whether they are truly behaving like dire wolves at all. Also, it doesn't necessarily make sense that these wolf pups have snowy white coats! It can easily go unquestioned that a wolf alive in the Ice Age would have a snowy coat, but the fact is that real dire wolves ranged widely and often lived in habitats, like prehistoric La Brea, that were warmer and more shrubby than snowy. After all, the pups of gray wolves—which Colossal suggests are nearly identical genetically to dire wolves—are often born with darker, brown coats that shift as they age. We don't know for sure what color dire wolves were. Neither does Colossal. The discovery of a dire wolf mummy could help settle the uncertainty—Ice Age gray wolf pups have been found before, so it's a possibility—but such a fossil has not been uncovered yet. What we're really looking at, it seems, are gray wolves modified to be dire wolves of George R.R. Martin's books rather than living, breathing replicas of the actual prehistoric carnivores that hunted bison, horses, camels, and baby mammoths in packs during the Pleistocene. They look like the animal actors on the HBO adaptation of Game of Thrones. Given that Martin is both an investor in and adviser to Colossal, it feels awfully convenient that the company is heavily promoting wolves that are the spitting image of those in his fantasy series. The canids might be 'dire wolves' in the fictional sense, but they are not literally dire wolves. Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi are, at best, a shaky hypothesis of what dire wolves might have looked like. As creatures that were created by modifying modern organisms, and who live in modern times, they are untethered from the evolutionary history embodied by the real dire wolves who now rest in the fossil record. Sure, Colossal has, perhaps, done something here. But Colossal's wolves are not dire wolves, and they never will be. 'As one of our founders stated, 'this is the moon landing of synthetic biology,' ' Colossal told Slate in a statement. But the fact is that gene editing can't reconnect the social lives and ecological roles of animals that have been extinct for thousands of years. Trying to 'bring back' dire wolves by modifying gray wolves is like saying you can reach the moon if you jump really high on a trampoline. Maybe you can get an inch closer than you could before. Maybe you can put the trampoline on a platform, too. But you'll never arrive. To put it another way, Colossal's dire wolves are like Tesla's disastrous Cybertruck. I don't think it's a coincidence that the co-founder of Colossal is a billionaire. Someone rich felt a pang of nostalgia and made a demand. The infamous and ugly Cybertruck was inspired by video game vehicles. Colossal's wolves are prestige TV creatures. This kind of thinking is everywhere: Blue Origin is sending Katy Perry way high up into the sky, a stunt to help sell a sci-fi daydream of one day taking a bus to Moon. This isn't progress; it's a bunch of toys. Meanwhile, the government is actively gutting science and health agencies, and firing people who do the challenging and often-unglamourous work that research involves—not for personal glory and a shiny press treatment, but simply to advance knowledge and make the world better for the humans and creatures who already live here. Careful and painstaking conservation work, such as the work restoring wood bison herds to Alaska, is overlooked in favor of designer species given meme-sprinkled promo reels. Facts, as we have bitterly learned over the past two decades, count for little right now. Colossal's very questionable marketing of its genetic tinkering has already prompted Donald Trump's oil-friendly Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to insinuate that the endangered species list will be a thing of the past if we can just refresh and resurrect species at will. '[T]he status quo is focused on regulation more than innovation,' he posted on X. To say Colossal is the future of conservation is to task the offensively wealthy with deciding the future of life on Earth. Any number of environmental injuries and insults can be justified if we believe that everything can be placed back how it was with a little innovation. Looking at Colossal's wolves, I don't even feel a 'wow' moment like Ellie Sattler had spotting an InGen-made Brachiosaurus in Jurassic Park. I hurt for these wolves, creatures wholly unaware that they were created to be trophies.
Daily Tribune
08-04-2025
- Science
- Daily Tribune
Scientists 'Resurrect' the Extinct Dire Wolf Using Gene Editing and Ancient DNA
In a groundbreaking feat of science, a team of geneticists at Colossal Biosciences, a biotech company based in Dallas, has successfully brought back to life a version of the long-extinct dire wolf—marking what they describe as the world's first 'successfully de-extincted animal.' Once a fearsome predator that roamed North America until its extinction around 12,500 years ago, the dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus) has captured popular imagination for decades, most notably as the model for the mythical wolves in HBO's Game of Thrones. Now, scientists say they have revived the animal's appearance and characteristics by genetically engineering gray wolf DNA using ancient samples, cloning technology, and advanced gene editing. Colossal Biosciences revealed that three pups with dire wolf traits have been born: two males in October 2024 and a female in January 2025. The animals are being housed in a highly secure, undisclosed 2,000-acre facility, equipped with zoo-grade fencing, drone surveillance, and 24-hour monitoring. The breakthrough involved extracting ancient DNA from two dire wolf fossils—a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull—and using the genetic information to map out the complete genome of the species. Scientists then made precise edits to gray wolf cells, introducing key dire wolf traits such as thicker fur, a broader skull, and powerful jaw structure. A total of 20 edits across 14 genes were made using CRISPR technology. 'These pups carry dire wolf genes, and these genes give them a look that hasn't been seen in over 13,000 years,' said Professor Love Dalén, an evolutionary genomics expert from Stockholm University and an advisor to Colossal. 'This is a huge leap forward—scientifically, this is the closest we've come to reviving an extinct species.' The hybrid embryos were gestated in domestic dogs, specifically large mixed-breed hounds, with all three pregnancies resulting in healthy births. Though the genome is still 99.9% gray wolf, scientists argue that the defining dire wolf traits justify classifying the animals as a form of de-extinction. Colossal, which has also announced plans to revive the woolly mammoth, Tasmanian tiger, and dodo, has raised over $435 million since its founding in 2021 by entrepreneur Ben Lamm and renowned Harvard geneticist George Church. The company says it is on track to introduce the first mammoth calves by 2028. Beyond the dire wolf, Colossal's research has also resulted in cloned litters of red wolves—one of the world's most endangered canid species—using less invasive cloning techniques developed through this project. While the achievement has sparked excitement, some experts have voiced caution. Critics argue that the funds used for de-extinction could be more effectively directed toward conservation efforts for existing endangered species. Others question the ecological role these animals would play, especially since even modern wolves face political and environmental challenges in the wild. Still, ethicists like Professor Christopher Preston from the University of Montana believe Colossal is approaching the issue responsibly. 'They've shown strong consideration for animal welfare, with a certified humane facility and thorough genetic screening to avoid harmful mutations,' he said. Yet the long-term future of the dire wolf remains unclear. While the company hints at future ecological reintegration, many are asking: What role can these resurrected predators realistically serve? For now, the dire wolf lives again—not in ancient forests or fantasy tales, but in the careful hands of science.
Express Tribune
08-04-2025
- Science
- Express Tribune
Game of Thrones dire wolves reborn: Colossal Biosciences de-extincts canines using CRISPR
Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas-based biotech company, has announced the successful creation of three dire wolf-like pups, calling it the world's first case of successful de-extinction. As reported by CNN on April 7, 2025, the animals were produced using advanced gene-editing and cloning techniques, drawing from ancient DNA samples belonging to the extinct dire wolf species (Aenocyon dirus), which vanished around 12,500 years ago. Using fossilized DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull, researchers reconstructed a dire wolf genome and edited gray wolf DNA—its closest living relative—to replicate key traits. The team made 20 gene edits across 14 genes, targeting physical characteristics such as jaw structure, fur thickness, and skeletal build. Two male pups were born in October 2024, followed by a female in January 2025, carried by large domestic hounds serving as surrogates. The dire wolf, famously referenced in HBO's Game of Thrones, was larger and more robust than modern wolves. Colossal scientists compared the ancient genome to those of modern canids like jackals and foxes to isolate and restore dire wolf traits. According to Love Dalén, an evolutionary genomics professor at Stockholm University and adviser to Colossal, while the resulting animals are genetically 99.9% gray wolf, their physical traits closely resemble those of the prehistoric predator. 'It carries dire wolf genes, and these genes make it look more like a dire wolf than anything we've seen in the last 13,000 years,' he said. Colossal's broader mission is to apply de-extinction tools to conservation. The company has also cloned two litters of critically endangered red wolves using techniques developed during this project. While critics raise concerns about ethics and the use of resources, others question whether these animals will ever serve a true ecological function. Still, the achievement is widely viewed as a major leap in gene-editing and conservation science.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Did Dire Wolves Just Come Back From Extinction? Here's The Truth.
The internet is currently abuzz with talk of dire wolves – an extinct species of prehistoric wolf that used to roam North America and that was famously featured in the HBO fantasy series, Game of Thrones. A Dallas-based biotech company, Colossal Biosciences, claims to have resurrected the prehistoric Ice Age species (Aenocyon dirus) in the form of three genetically engineered grey wolf pups named Romulus, Remus, and Kaleesi. "On October 1, 2024, for the first time in human history, Colossal successfully restored a once-eradicated species through the science of de-extinction," reads the company's official press release. "Colossal's innovations in science, technology, and conservation made it possible to accomplish something that's never been done before: the revival of a species from its longstanding population of zero." With thick pelts not seen in modern wolves, the white-furred pups may well pass for a distinct new type of wolf, but in the words of American astronomer and science communicator Carl Sagan, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Right now, details of the non-peer-reviewed research are very limited. All the public has to go on are images and quotes provided by Colossal. Jeremy Austin, Director of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, told ScienceAlert that all Colossal has done is create a genetically engineered gray wolf that looks like what the company thinks a dire wolf might have looked like. And even that is up for debate; canids are morphologically similar, making it hard to verify from fossil remains the exact appearance of an extinct member of the family. Evolutionary biologist Beth Shapiro of Colossal has given a definition of a species that Austin finds misleading. "Species concepts are human classification systems, and everybody can disagree and everyone can be right," Shapiro told Michael Le Page at New Scientist. "I think that the best definition of a species is if it looks like that species, if it is acting like that species, if it's filling the role of that species, then you've done it," she told ABC News. But looks aren't everything. Cryptic species, for instance, are organisms that are almost indistinguishable but are genetically distinct and do not typically interbreed. Austin compares Shapiro's lenient definition to the literary folktale, the Emperor's New Clothes. "If you say you've done something, and enough people believe you, then, well, you've done it," Austin told ScienceAlert. "Whereas I think a lot of scientists are going to be scratching their heads, saying, 'Look, you've got a white, gray wolf.' That's not a dire wolf under any definition of a species ever… I don't think that this represents de-extinction in any way, shape, or form." Adam Boyko, a geneticist at Cornell University who was not involved in the project, told Carl Zimmer at the New York Times that he also doesn't consider Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi to be 'resurrected' dire wolves. Though closely related, studies on their genes have found dire wolves split from other canids around 5.7 million years ago, with no sign of an exchange of genes with North America's gray wolf ancestral populations. To create these pups, scientists at Colossal used past genetic sequencing studies to make just 20 unique precision edits to the 2.5 billion base pairs in gray wolf germline cells. They then used surrogate dog mothers to give birth to the genetically engineered gray wolf pups. Colossal hasn't claimed an intention to make a genetically precise dire wolf. But even if they are trying to create a wolf that looks and behaves like they think a dire wolf would, Austin says that would still probably require tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of critical genetic changes. Five of the 20 gene edits made to the gray wolves were apparently associated with light coat color alone, according to New Scientist's interview with Shapiro. The chief animal officer at Colossal who oversaw the pregnancies and births, Matt James, told the New York Times that when the pups were born, he could tell they were a success the moment he spotted a white coat. Austin admits that this research is valuable, with real applications in conservation, genetics, and understanding the evolutionary development of different organisms. But he says, "for a fully trained wolf biologist or wolf taxonomist or a wolf evolutionary biologist to come out and say, 'I know we have a dire wolf because it was white', is really cutting so many corners in terms of resurrecting extinct animals… it kind of brings the whole thing into real disrepute." Colossal claims that they are proud to return the dire wolf to its "rightful place in the ecosystem." But is it really their 'rightful place', or will they threaten other animals that have not gone extinct? It's also worth considering if the ecosystem dire wolves once used to live in even exists anymore. "Is there an ecological place for dire wolves in the modern world?" wonders Austin. "Or are they just are they just zoo animals that people are going to go and pay money to see and say, 'Hey, we saw a dire wolf today', while Jeremy is standing in the background saying, 'No, you didn't see a dire wolf. You saw a white gray wolf'." "It's a bit like the guy in the Chinese zoo who had dogs that he painted to be pandas. And everyone you know fell for that story." How Do Dogs Perceive The World? It All Starts With The Nose One Brain Receptor Explains Why 'Virgin' Male Worms Take More Risks Something Truly Scary Discovered at The Bottom of Belize's Great Blue Hole
