Dire Wolves Are Back!!! Not Really, The Truth Behind this De-extinction
Recently, the company Colossal Biosciences made headlines by claiming they have revived the dire wolf, an extinct species. But how accurate is this statement, and does it mean we are on the verge of resurrecting other extinct animals?
Today, we will be looking at the scientific paper “How to clone a dire wolf?” [1] to discover whether de-extinction is now a reality.
Is the Dire Wolf Back?
The dire wolf went extinct about 10,000 years ago; however, Colossal Bioscience states they’ve managed to revive this species [1]. However, the reality is a bit more complicated.
Researchers identified specific genes from the fossilised dire wolf remains and used CRISPR/Cas9, which is a powerful gene-editing tool, to insert 14 particular genes from the dire wolf into embryos (an unborn or unhatched offspring) of its closest living relative, the grey wolf [1]. These embryos were then implanted in domestic dogs, which gave birth to three large, pale-coloured grey wolves [1].
While these animals resemble dire wolves in appearance, they are not genetically the same [1]. Colossal’s data reveals over 15 million genetic differences between actual dire wolves and these modified animals [1]. Therefore, these are not true dire wolves; they are genetically altered grey wolves with several dire wolf-like traits.
Is De-extinction Ethical?
The paper delves into the details of how reintroducing extinct species may not be ethical or practical. Dire wolves originally went extinct because their prey also disappeared [1]. Thus, without those same conditions, could they even survive today [1]? These animals have not evolved for modern ecosystems and are genetically 10,000 years behind [1].
In-Short
In summary, no, the dire wolf is not back. What Colossal has demonstrated is the ability to use gene editing to tweak the appearance and other traits of animals, not revive them in full [1]. This same principle would apply to bringing back any other animal.
This project is a major step forward in genetic engineering; however, true de-extinction remains out of our reach, for now.
References
Reference paper “How to clone a Dire Wolf?”