The US company says it led to the tragic wolf that was extinct

They cry, drink from young bottles, and crawl tentatively. They look like cute white puppies, not fruit from a bold project that revives extinct species.

The Texas startup called Colossal Biosciences created a big splash this week by releasing footage of a dog called Dire Wolves, a species that disappeared over 12,000 years ago.

“For the first time in human history, Colossal has successfully restored a once-appropriate species through the science of detension,” the company said on its website.

Photos and videos of these creatures flooded social media and shook the scientific community. This responded with a mix of enthusiasm and skepticism for this experiment, which was reminiscent of “Jurassic Park.”

The company says it did that by tweaking the DNA of modern gray wolves with carefully selected genes from disastrous wolves fossils. This modified genetic material was then inserted into a gray wolf egg and embedded in a normal dog as a surrogate mother.

Results: Three babies miserable wolves, giant biological sciences claim.

“I think this claim is very exaggerated,” Alan Cooper, an evolutionary molecular biologist who participated in a previous study of Dire Wolf DNA, told AFP.

“It’s like putting some genes into you from Neanderthals, building you even more hairy, more muscle, and then calling you a Neanderthal,” Cooper said.

“It’s a million miles from the Neanderthals. It’s a hairy person.”

“This is not a disastrous wolves. It’s something they created with the phenotypic characteristics of disastrous wolves,” said Lisette Waits, a wildlife resource ecologist and professor at the University of Idaho.

Waits, who has worked extensively in the issues of genetics and red wolf protection in gray wolves, called this achievement a breakthrough.

The puppy nods to his twin brothers in Roman mythology and his boyfriend of fame in “Game of Thrones” and is named Romulus and Remus.

Discussion

The Colossal Biosciences team studied two miserable wolves’ fossil DNA from teeth 13,000 years ago and skull fragments from 72,000 years ago, and compared them to the DNA of the grey wolves, the vibrant species.

The team concluded that these two types of DNA are about 99.5% identical, Beth Shapiro, the company’s chief science officer, told AFP.

Analysis of the differences between the two types of DNA determined which genes could be involved in the size, muscle structure, and its white fur of the miserable wolf.

With this information, the team corrected blood cells from the grey wolves by inserting some of these disastrous wolves genes. A total of 20 changes were made using a genetic engineering technique known as CRISPR-CAS 9. This is also used in human genetics.

The blood cells were then transferred to grey wolf egg cells embedded in the dog. Results: Romulus, Remus, Khaleesi.

Whether these animals are actual, tragic wolves or simply genetically modified grey wolves, Shapiro argued that it was “a semantic and philosophical argument.”

She added that it is never possible to create an animal 100% genetically identical to an extinct species.

“But that’s not the goal either. Our goal is to create functional equivalents of these species,” the scientist said.

Dodos and wool mammoth

The company plans to apply the technology to dodo birds and wool mammoths.

Last month, they released a photo of mice injected with genetic material from one of their extinct pachyderms, producing controversy and some very furry rodents.

Some scientists say the goal of replicating extinct species is unachievable and even dangerous. But others welcome it as an ambitious way to combat the steady loss of planetary biodiversity.

Conservation expert Ways said aside the fuss about the experiment, the technique could help recover endangered species.

Colossal Biosciences was able to seduce more than $200 million in investment funds.

Ronald Sandler, a professor of philosophy and ethics at Northeastern University, said he was worried that the causes of extinct animals, such as climate change and habitat loss, could lead to “moral distractions.”

©2025 AFP