Scientists Assist in Bringing Back Dire Wolves After 12,500 Years of Extinction

According to a scientific breakthrough by the world's first de-extinction corporation, a previously extinct wolf has been born for the first time in 12,500 years.

Colossal Biosciences, an American biotech business, created three Dire Wolves (Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi) using DNA from an extinct animal's teeth and skull.

Scientists created the Dire Wolf by making 20 distinct modifications to the animal's DNA, 15 of which came from ancient animal genes that had not existed in over 12,000 years.  

"I could not be more proud of the team," Colossal CEO Ben Lamm stated.

 "This massive milestone is the first of many coming examples demonstrating that our end-to-end de-extinction technology stack works."

"Our scientists used DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull to create healthy dire wolf babies.

"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."

The wolves live on a 2000+ acre preserve and receive 24/7 care from staff to maintain their physical and emotional wellness.

 In addition, the business successfully bred two litters of extremely endangered red wolves.

 A novel non-invasive blood cloning technique created a litter from three genetic founder lines.

"Preserving, expanding, and testing genetic diversity should be done well before important endangered animal species like the red wolf are lost," Colossal co-founder and Harvard geneticist Dr. George Church stated.

"Another source of ecosystem variety stems from our new technologies to de-extinct lost genes, including deep ancient DNA sequencing, polyphyletic trait analyses, multiplex germline editing, and cloning." The dire wolf is an early illustration of this, with the most precise genomic modifications in a healthy vertebrate to date... a capability that is developing exponentially.

The Dire Wolf appeared in the popular television series Game of Thrones.

The wolf, formally known as Aenocyon virus, roamed on the US continent during the Pleistocene ice ages. The oldest known fossil of the animal dates back 250,000 years.

Colossal's genomic data reveals that the wolf lineage originated between 3.5 million and 2.5 million years ago.

 Wolves became extinct during the most recent ice age, some 13,000 years ago.