A company focused on reviving endangered species claims that three genetically modified wolves—designed to resemble the extinct dire wolf, which has been gone for over 10,000 years—are now howling, sleeping, and trotting in an undisclosed safe location in the United States.
According to researchers at Colossal Biosciences, the three- to six-month-old wolf pups have long white fur, strong teeth, and currently weigh about 80 pounds, with the potential to reach 140 pounds when fully grown.
Although the company had not previously made its work on dire wolves public, Colossal has been working since 2021 to bring the mammoth, dodo, and Tasmanian tiger back to life.
“This massive milestone is the first of many coming examples demonstrating that our end-to-end de-extinction technology stack works,” said Ben Lamm, Colossal’s co-founder and CEO.
The three dire wolves reside on a 2,000-acre property that is surrounded by 10-foot (3-meter) high “zoo-grade” fencing. Security guards, drones, and live video feeds keep an eye on them.
Colossal stated that its facility was registered with the US Department of Agriculture and certified by the American Humane Society.
By studying ancient DNA from fossils, the scientists learned about particular characteristics that dire wolves possessed.
The researchers examined two items from natural history museums: a 72,000-year-old skull fragment discovered in Idaho and a 13,000-year-old dire wolf tooth discovered in Ohio.
According to Ben Shapiro, chief scientist at Colossal, the researchers next utilized CRISPR to genetically alter blood cells from a living gray wolf in 20 distinct locations.
They used a domestic dog’s egg cell to transmit that genetic material. When the embryos were ready, they were placed in domestic dogs as surrogates, and 62 days later, the genetically modified puppies were born.
Despite the fact that other experts stated that there are limits to restoring the past, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum hailed the work on X (formerly Twitter) as a “thrilling new era of scientific wonder.”
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