Dire Wolf Back From Extinction! Or Not?

Colossal Biosciencesclaim that 2 pups born in October 2024 and 1 pup born in January 2025, are dire wolves.
They claim that they restored a once eradicated species through the science of de-extinction.
But is this actually the case?

Music: Adrian von Ziegler

Please leave a comment, like & subscribe!

[RagnarLodbrok]

Wildlife biologist here! While these are absolutely not dire wolves and I'm not convinced any of their de-extinction projects have much ecological value except for *maybe* the mammoth, this technology does raise one possibility that I think is extremely interesting. Not resurrecting extinct animals, but keeping animals that have come close to extinction from going extinct.

When a population gets small and isolated enough, it enters a loop called inbreeding depression. The only way animals within the population can reproduce is by mating with other animals in the same small, isolated population, so over the generations they become more and more closely related. Eventually, inbreeding effects such as severe birth defects, miscarriage, and reduced fertility become common, causing the local population to become extinct. In North America, a charismatic example of this is seen in some bighorn sheep populations; as high-altitude specialists, they're pretty vulnerable to habitat fragmentation.

While this can in the long term be solved with reintroducing animals from other populations or increasing habitat connectivity, that's not an option if the isolated population is the only one left. A good example of this is the black-footed ferret. Every one living today is descended from eighteen individuals that were discovered clinging on at a site in Wyoming in 1981. So while the species has been reintroduced in the wild successfully, their long-term prospects aren't great. There are already efforts to address this with cloning, but if this company's method is cheaper, then making more diverse IVF ferrets this way would be huge for them. And this can be applied to a fair few species; cheetahs are still suffering from the effects of both their long-ago bottleneck event and more recent anthropogenic population fragmentation, for example.

It's pretty odd to me that they decided to make the "dire wolf" a point of focus, however. There's another big, charismatic Pleistocene carnivore which has some pretty complete frozen specimens, a close living relative that isn't just the same genus but the same species, and could potentially fill a niche left vacant by its extinction and that of its close North American relative: the cave lion (Panthera leo spalea). I can't say it would be a huge priority for me, but it would be a much more genuine de-extinction. It sure is good marketing though, and if it gets Silicon Valley venture capitalists to throw money at a technology that has the potential to do some real good then I'm all for it.

[mylinuxgr]

Evolution geneticist here! Congratulations. Agree with you 100%.

[drzarkov]

Our zoo just acquired a female red wolf for the lone male red wolf it has. There are only 20 red wolf pairs in the wild. Let's save the endangered beautiful red wolf before we start creating new species of wolf.

[takumiyoshimoto]

Less of a de-extinction but more of a Synthetic Species. That said the science behind this "de-extinction" is the actual gem here. The power to edit gene and map gene from just blood is something that can push modern medicine to new heights. Heck they might even discover cure to the diseases that are currently incurable.

[haraldnijenhuis]

Dr. Alan Grant would say, “These are not dire-wolves; these are genetically engineered circus attractions.”

[fletchdad]

They should be trying to do something about the rhinoceros, storing DNA and maybe trying to bring them back from the brink of extinction !

[consoleking]

Direwolf? Not at all
Cool as hell? Absolutely

[arizwebfoot]

"I don't think we need that mouse", I laughed so hard that I snorted coffee out of my nose when you said that.

[GaryArmstrongmacgh]

I think you've given the best reporting. Good job Kayleigh! It sounds like it's merely a hybrid Canis lupus.
Hope for the sake of the creature it can live a healthy and happy life.

[NedkaRokonokova]

These are designer dogs, not dire wolves. We need to leave extinct animals remain extinct and focus on saving the animals that we are threatening to destroy.

[ekim]

This strikes me like the animal kingdom equivalent of building tribute cars. It's a replica and the working parts are unrelated.

[austintrousdale]

Thumbs-up and a comment to boost your video. Going to be an uphill battle pushing back on the misinformation.

[timfogelson]

Love your stuff, you keep it up. Thanks for all the hard work.

[uweseemann]

A white horse with black stripes remains a horse. No matter whether the stripes are made with paint or gene editing. The same applies to messing around with the wolf's genome. The result will be a very special pet for rich people.

[michaelhill]

The fact they are literally calling them dire wolves and claiming they brought them back from extinction is outright fraud IMHO.

[patbrubeck]

It is SO refreshing having someone take a scientific look at these claims. Thank you. It is so disappointing that this company is using half-truths and gimmicks to promote themselves. I suspect it all has to do with getting more funding, increasing the apparent value of the company, and hoping for a big payday when they sell the company. They should be made to watch all of the Jurassic Park movies as punishment!

[Zebred]

I am all for de-extinction initiatives if they really bring back a genetically identical species. Not though, if they only produce some stand-in and name it for some lurid pop-culture TV show animal as a cheap 21-century stunt. If they have the complete genome of the Dire Wolf, what are the technical hurdles to putting the whole sequence into a cell for implanting? If they do that and get healthy pups then yes, at that point the Dire Wolf is back!

[johnmeleen]

Very nice and accurate perspective Kayleigh.❤

[bigDbigDbigD]

Even if it was possible to “bring bark” the. Dire wolf it should not be done as the prey base is gone,

[karlmahlmann]

I'm very glad that some independent thinkers aren't persuaded by the sensational headlines. The creatures they produced were nowhere near being Dire Wolves. Dire Wolves remain extinct.