Colossal Biosciences brought back the extinct dire wolf: history, reasons, and return
8 april 2025 в 15:37
Colossal Biosciences has brought back the extinct dire wolf. If you are a Game of Thrones fan, you will likely recognize the name of the animal that disappeared from the face of the earth thousands of years ago. Scientists from the Texas-based company have found a way to bring back the species using their young males named Romulus and Remus, as well as a female named Khaleesi.
Learn all about the history of dire wolves, why they went extinct, and how they have returned below.
The dire wolf is now a de-extinct dog that lived in America during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, between 125,000 and 10,000 years ago. According to Colossal Biosciences, these wolves were usually white in color.
The dire wolf went extinct over 10,000 years ago. These two wolves were brought back from extinction with the help of… pic.twitter.com/wY4rdOVFRH
— Colossal Biosciences® (@colossal) April 7, 2025
According to many reports, the dire wolf was approximately 6 feet long and weighed between 130 and 150 pounds.
There are several factors that contributed to the extinction of the dire wolf. Climate change and competition with other species often lead to the extinction of an animal. Additionally, the dire wolf relied on megaherbivores (large herbivorous animals), which is one of the reasons for its extinction.
Colossal is a biotechnology and engineering company specializing in de-extinction. The Colossal team has also worked on de-extincting the woolly mammoth, northern white rhinoceros, Tasmanian tiger, and dodo.
According to an April 2025 press release, Colossal CEO Ben Lamm said: «I couldn’t be prouder of the team. This monumental milestone is the first of many examples demonstrating that our de-extinction technology works from start to finish. Our team took DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull and created healthy dire wolf pups. It was once said that 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' Today, our team can unveil some of the magic they are working on and its broader impact on conservation».
These two wolves were… pic.twitter.com/hbk1wFQ3lf
— Colossal Biosciences® (@colossal) April 7, 2025
In the Colossal press release, the company detailed how they successfully de-extincted the dire wolf. The team included:
Dr. George Church — geneticist, molecular engineer, chemist, and co-founder of Colossal Biosciences. Among the scientist’s most notable achievements is his work as a professor at Harvard University, where he founded around 50 biotechnology companies in his lab. He is also included in Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2017.
Church commented on the de-extinction of the dire wolf in a statement included in the Colossal press release. The geneticist said: «Preserving, expanding, and testing genetic diversity should be done long before important animal species, such as the red wolf, are lost. Another source of ecosystem diversity comes from our new technologies for de-extincting lost genes, including deep analysis of ancient DNA, analysis of polyphyletic traits, multiplex editing of germlines, and cloning. The dire wolf is an early example of this, including the largest number of precise genomic changes in a healthy vertebrate to date. The potential is growing exponentially»
Learn all about the history of dire wolves, why they went extinct, and how they have returned below.
The dire wolf is now a de-extinct dog that lived in America during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, between 125,000 and 10,000 years ago. According to Colossal Biosciences, these wolves were usually white in color.
The dire wolf went extinct over 10,000 years ago. These two wolves were brought back from extinction with the help of… pic.twitter.com/wY4rdOVFRH
— Colossal Biosciences® (@colossal) April 7, 2025
According to many reports, the dire wolf was approximately 6 feet long and weighed between 130 and 150 pounds.
There are several factors that contributed to the extinction of the dire wolf. Climate change and competition with other species often lead to the extinction of an animal. Additionally, the dire wolf relied on megaherbivores (large herbivorous animals), which is one of the reasons for its extinction.
Colossal is a biotechnology and engineering company specializing in de-extinction. The Colossal team has also worked on de-extincting the woolly mammoth, northern white rhinoceros, Tasmanian tiger, and dodo.
According to an April 2025 press release, Colossal CEO Ben Lamm said: «I couldn’t be prouder of the team. This monumental milestone is the first of many examples demonstrating that our de-extinction technology works from start to finish. Our team took DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull and created healthy dire wolf pups. It was once said that 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' Today, our team can unveil some of the magic they are working on and its broader impact on conservation».
These two wolves were… pic.twitter.com/hbk1wFQ3lf
— Colossal Biosciences® (@colossal) April 7, 2025
In the Colossal press release, the company detailed how they successfully de-extincted the dire wolf. The team included:
Dr. George Church — geneticist, molecular engineer, chemist, and co-founder of Colossal Biosciences. Among the scientist’s most notable achievements is his work as a professor at Harvard University, where he founded around 50 biotechnology companies in his lab. He is also included in Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2017.
Church commented on the de-extinction of the dire wolf in a statement included in the Colossal press release. The geneticist said: «Preserving, expanding, and testing genetic diversity should be done long before important animal species, such as the red wolf, are lost. Another source of ecosystem diversity comes from our new technologies for de-extincting lost genes, including deep analysis of ancient DNA, analysis of polyphyletic traits, multiplex editing of germlines, and cloning. The dire wolf is an early example of this, including the largest number of precise genomic changes in a healthy vertebrate to date. The potential is growing exponentially»
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