No, the dire wolf has not been brought back from extinction

[douglas9]

Colossal Biosciences claims three pups born recently are dire wolves, but they are actually grey wolves with genetic edits intended to make them resemble the lost species

A company called Colossal Biosciences says it has revived an extinct species – the dire wolf. “On October 1, 2024, for the first time in human history, Colossal successfully restored a once-eradicated species through the science of de-extinction. After a 10,000+ year absence, our team is proud to return the dire wolf to its rightful place in the ecosystem.” That’s the claim made on the website of the US-based company. Here’s what we know.

What’s happened?
Colossal is claiming that three genetically modified grey wolf pups – two males called Remus and Romulus born in October, and a female called Khaleesi born in January – are in fact dire wolves. The same company also recently announced the creation of woolly mice and a nearly complete thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, genome.

What is a dire wolf?
Dire wolves are large extinct canines (Aenocyon dirus) that lived in the Americas until around 10,000 years ago. The animals looked like large wolves with white coats. They were made famous by the Game of Thrones TV series – hence the name Khaleesi, after a main character in the show.

So, a dire wolf is an extinct species of wolf?
No. Grey wolves and dire wolves were thought to be very closely related based on their physical similarities, but a 2021 study of ancient DNA revealed that they last shared a common ancestor around 6 million years ago. Jackals, African wild dogs and dholes are all more closely related to grey wolves (Canis lupus) than dire wolves are, despite their similar appearances.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2475407-no-the-dire-wolf-has-not-been-brought-back-from-extinction/

[True Dough]

1. Holy smokes!

Has that story ever been making the rounds on social media. I've seen it all over the place. There is a lot of misinformation related to it.