In a Historic First, Scientists Have Resurrected the Dire Wolf—Sort Of

The first major frontier of “de-extinction” has just been crossed. Earlier today, the company Colossal Biosciences reported that its scientists have successfully brought back a version of the dire wolf—purportedly the first such resurrection of a previously extinct species. Colossal announced its seismic accomplishment Monday morning, accompanied by a lengthy cover article in Time magazine. Using a combination of gene-editing and surrogate dogs, the company has reportedly bred three sibling dire wolves since last fall, all of which appear to be healthy so far. The feat follows Colossal’s genetic engineering of “woolly mice” and should bode well for their larger resurrection project: bringing back the woolly mammoth. Dire wolves (Aenocyon dirus) were canines that emerged during the Late Pleistocene, between 129,000 and 11,700 years ago, before becoming extinct around 9,500 years ago. They lived throughout the Americas and likely evolved to hunt down the especially massive megafauna se ... Read full article.