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Олександр КузьменкоStartup
8 April 2025, 15:40
2025-04-08
Startup Colossal Biosciences announced the revival of a species of dire wolves that became extinct 10,000 years ago. What other animals does the company want to bring back?
The American company Colossal Biosciences claims to have revived the extinct wolf species Aenocyon dirus, which American science fiction writer George R.R. Martin used as a prototype for his direwolves in the book saga «Game of Thrones». How Colossal Biosciences managed to bring back dire wolves and why scientists are skeptical of the startup’s loud claims.
The American company Colossal Biosciences claims to have revived the extinct wolf species Aenocyon dirus, which American science fiction writer George R.R. Martin used as a prototype for his direwolves in the book saga «Game of Thrones». How Colossal Biosciences managed to bring back dire wolves and why scientists are skeptical of the startup’s loud claims.
Dire wolves lived in North America during the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene and became extinct about 10,000 years ago. However, many dire wolf remains have been found throughout America, and this gave the company Colossal Biosciences the opportunity to study them, writes Time.
Through genetic engineering and ancient preserved DNA, Colossal scientists decoded the dire wolf genome, rewrote the genetic code of the common gray wolf, and, using domestic dogs as surrogate mothers, gave birth to the pups Romulus, Remus, and their sister, 2-month-old Khaleesi, in three separate births last fall and this winter.
The startup believes that this is the first time they have actually restored a species of animal whose living gene pool has long disappeared.
Meet Romulus and Remus—the first animals ever resurrected from extinction. The dire wolf, lost to history over 10,000 years ago, has returned. Reborn on October 1, 2024, these remarkable pups were brought back to life using ancient DNA extracted from fossilized remains.
Colossal scientists discovered a number of features that distinguished dire wolves from modern ones:
light fur;
large size (like the largest modern wolves);
wide head;
large teeth and jaws;
strong shoulders and muscular legs;
another howl and snarl.
To recreate these differences, the scientists made just 20 changes in 14 genes (out of 19,000 genes in the wolf genome) to create dire wolf embryos from normal stem cells. They had to take the gene responsible for light fur from modern Arctic species, because it also causes blindness in modern wolves.
The embryos were then implanted into surrogate mothers, domestic dogs, and after 65 days of gestation, the first dire wolf cubs, Romulus and Remus, were born in October 2024. After the third embryo was implanted into a surrogate mother in January of this year, the first female, Khaleesi, was born, named after the heroine of George R.R. Martin’s books.
Skepticism of scientists
Some scientists doubt that changes in just 14 genes turned ordinary wolves into their extinct relatives, writes nauka.ua. In their opinion, the three born wolf cubs are just ordinary wolves with genes and some features of dire wolves, but not a revival of this species. But they admit that if these wolf cubs grow up and have descendants with the same features that will not interbreed with ordinary wolves, this may become a prerequisite for the formation of a new species.
«It’s no secret that it’s 99,9% gray wolf by genome. There will be debate in the scientific community about how many genes need to be changed to get a dire wolf, but that’s really a philosophical question,» said Love Dalen, a professor of evolutionary genomics at the Center for Paleogenetics at Stockholm University and an advisor to Colossal.
According to him, Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi have dire wolf genes in them, and these genes make them more like dire wolves «than anything else we’ve seen in the last 13,000 years».
For now, Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi are confined to a closed area at Colossal Biosciences, where they will live out their lives because they are not adapted to life in the wild. The company plans to create other dire wolves that could populate the North Dakota area if it is deemed safe to do so. However, if that happens, scientists will also need to consider whether the larger dire wolves will crowd out the existing ones that live there.
What is the goal of Colossal Biosciences?
The dire wolf isn’t the only animal Colossal, a company founded in 2021 and currently employing 130 scientists, wants to bring back. Also on their wish list are the woolly mammoth, the dodo, and the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger.
Colossal Biosciences previously surprised scientists with the news of creating mice with «mammoth features.» This is a step towards its goal of creating hairy genetically modified elephants and populating the Arctic. The company copied mammoth DNA to create a very hairy mouse with long golden fur and accelerated fat metabolism, like a mammoth.
Colossal claims that the same techniques it uses to bring back species can help prevent the extinction of animals that already exist but are threatened with extinction. Scientists say that the experience of restoring the mammoth could help them create more resilient elephants that can better survive the climatic ravages of a warming climate. The techniques learned to restore the wolf could also be used to support the endangered red wolf.
Rem at 5 months old. Photo: Colossal Biosciences
«We are an evolutionary force now. We are deciding what the future of these species will be», — said Beth Shapiro, Colossal’s chief scientific officer, speaking of humanity as a whole.
The Center for Biological Diversity estimates that 30% of the planet’s genetic diversity will be lost by 2050, and Shapiro and Colossal CEO Ben Lamm insist that genetic engineering is a vital tool to turn this situation around.
Previously, film director Peter Jackson and his partner, producer Fran Walsh, backed the startup Colossal Biosciences, which raised $235 million. Jackson hopes that it will help prevent bird extinction in his country.
Since its founding in September 2021 and the first announcement of plans to resurrect a mammoth, Colossal Biosciences has raised at least $435 million. The process took longer than its founders had planned, so the company now plans to introduce the first woolly mammoth cubs in 2028.
