De-extinction: Has an American firm resurrected the dire wolf? Lets learn more!

De-Extinction of the Dire Wolf: A bioscience firm based in the United States announced on Monday that it has successfully revived the dire wolf, an extinct species popularized by the Game of Thrones television series.

Colossal Biosciences, co-founded by billionaire Ben Lamm and geneticist George Church, stated: “On October 1, 2024, for the first time in human history, Colossal has successfully restored a species that had been extinct for over 10,000 years through the process of de-extinction. Our team is honored to reintroduce the dire wolf to its rightful role within the ecosystem.”

Just a month prior, this same company, which was valued at $10 billion in January, revealed the birth of “woolly mice” as part of its initiative to resurrect the woolly mammoth, which existed from the Middle Pleistocene to the Holocene epochs.

About the Dire Wolf

Dire wolves (Aenocyon dirus) were large canines that roamed southern Canada and the United States before their extinction approximately 13,000 years ago. They bore a resemblance to today’s grey wolves (Canis lupus) but were larger and had white fur. A dire wolf could reach a height of 3.5 feet, extend over 6 feet in length, and weigh as much as 68 kg.

These formidable hunters preyed on horses, bison, and potentially mammoths. The decline of many of these prey species, likely exacerbated by human hunting, may have contributed to the dire wolf's extinction.

In recent years, the species gained significant attention due to HBO’s Game of Thrones and George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, which inspired the show. The dire wolf serves as the emblem of House Stark.

Colossal's Announcement

The company has reported the birth of three genetically modified grey wolf pups, which it describes as “functional copies of something that once existed,” specifically the dire wolves.

Two male pups, named Romulus and Remus, were born to surrogate dog mothers in October, while a female pup named Khaleesi—after a character from Game of Thrones—was born in January.

Colossal has established a private 2,000-acre facility in an undisclosed location in the northern United States, where they are observing and caring for wolves.

‘De-extinction’ Initiative

Researchers at Colossal reached out to various museums and laboratories to obtain specimens of dire wolves, successfully acquiring a tooth estimated to be around 13,000 years old and a skull that dates back 72,000 years.

“Within the skull lies the petrous bone, or inner ear bone, which serves as an excellent source of well-preserved DNA,” stated Beth Shapiro, Colossal’s chief science officer, in an interview with USA Today.

From these two specimens, Shapiro and her team managed to extract sufficient DNA to construct two complete genomes of the dire wolf—representing the full genetic blueprint of the organism. They then compared these genomes with those of other canid species, including coyotes, jackals, dholes, and various types of wolves.

“Based on the genetic analysis, researchers confirmed that the grey wolf is the closest living relative of the dire wolf, sharing 99.5% of their DNA,” the report from USA Today noted.

The scientists proceeded to employ gene editing techniques to introduce 20 specific modifications across 14 genes in the grey wolf genome. Of these modifications, 15 were aimed at recreating traits associated with the extinct dire wolf, such as a lighter coat color, hair length, coat patterns, body size, and musculature.

Following this, fertilized “dire wolf” eggs were implanted into surrogate dog mothers.

Are These Truly Dire Wolves?

Colossal acknowledges that the resulting pups are not an exact replica of the extinct dire wolves. This raises the question: Are these pups genuinely dire wolves or merely a variation?

Colossal reports that grey wolves and dire wolves share 99.5% of their genetic material, yet they remain distinctly different species.

A report in New Scientist highlighted that the grey wolf genome comprises approximately 2.4 billion base pairs, allowing for millions of base pair variations. Furthermore, a 2021 study published in the journal Nature revealed that grey wolves and dire wolves, once believed to be closely related, last shared a common ancestor around 6 million years ago. Their similarities are primarily superficial.

Shapiro explained that the classification of species depends on the criteria used for definition.

"Species concepts are human-made classification systems, and there can be differing opinions, all of which may be valid. One can apply the phylogenetic species concept, which focuses on evolutionary relationships, to define a species. However, we are employing the morphological species concept, which categorizes species based on their physical appearance," she stated in an interview with New Scientist.

Uncertain prospects

Even if Colossal's pups are indeed dire wolves, the species is unlikely to be fully "revived" at this stage. Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi lack parental figures, have never encountered other wolves, and do not possess hunting skills.

They are prohibited from breeding, and Colossal plans to genetically engineer only three to five additional individuals. It is probable that these "dire wolves" will become the second species ever resurrected, only to face extinction once more. The first was the bucardo, a mountain goat native to the Pyrenees in Europe.