Dire Wolf De-extinction: Back from the brink?
By Cian Mc Conway
On April 7th, 2025, the Texas-based biosciences company Colossal announced the birth of two Wolves, Romulus and Remus, both born on October 1st, 2024. However, these two Wolves were something special. Colossal has claimed to have resurrected the Dire Wolf, a species that had been lost to time for well over 10,000 years. But is there truth to this claim? Has the Dire Wolf really returned, and is resurrecting extinct species really a good idea?
What is a Dire Wolf?
Many people may be aware of the Dire Wolf due to its inclusion in Game of Thrones, but many are unaware that the Dire Wolf was a real animal, although it differed heavily from its pop culture appearances.
Aenocyon dirus was a species of wild dog that went extinct around 10,000 years ago in an era known as the Pleistocene. Dire Wolves were large animals, weighing up to 68 kilos compared to 38 kilos in an average male Grey Wolf. They were once found in woodlands and savannahs across the Americas, as far north as Canada down towards Argentina. Dire Wolves hunted a wide range of large prey including Bison, Camels, Wild Horses, Ground Sloths and even young or injured Mammoths or Mastodon if they got the opportunity.
However, names can be deceiving. In 2021, researchers studying ancient DNA from the species found that the Dire Wolf may have not been a Wolf at all. In fact, the study found that the Dire Wolf has no close living relatives. This result could be subject to change as more research is done, but this could mean that the Dire Wolf may have a very different life appearance than what we may have expected at first.
It isn’t known why Dire Wolves went extinct, but it was likely due to multiple factors. Climate change at the end of the last Ice Age changed their habitats, meaning the species they hunted and habitats they relied upon declined. This, combined with pressures from Humans who had just arrived in the Americas, likely caused their extinction.
What is De-extinction?
De-extinction may sound like science fiction, like something out of Jurassic Park, but genetic research has progressed dramatically since that film came out in 1993! De-extinction is essentially resurrecting an extinct organism or at least creating one that resembles and behaves like an extinct species.
Cloning is by far the most widely used method and many living animals have been cloned. Clones may be genetically identical to the donor of the cells used, but genetics technology has advanced to a point where DNA can be altered deliberately to create genetic diversity. The most famous example of a cloned animal is Dolly the Sheep, who was incredibly important for genetic and stem cell research. Dolly was a Finn-Dorset Sheep born on July 5th, 1996, at the Roslin Institute in the University of Edinburgh. While animals had been cloned before Dolly, she was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, a breakthrough for genetics research. Dolly unfortunately passed away in 2003, but many other animals have been cloned since her birth. Dolly is on display in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
There have been attempts to de-extinct some species in the past, such as the Pyrenean Ibex in 2009 and the Gastric-brooding Frog in 2013. Unfortunately, these animals didn’t survive more than a few days. To recreate an extinct species, scientists can use their DNA to alter reproductive cells to create a clone. DNA is the building blocks of life, acting like a blueprint or instruction manual for making a living thing.
However, the older the species is and depending on how their bodies are preserved, the more damaged the DNA can be. DNA breaks down rapidly after an animal dies. But in some circumstances, the DNA of ancient animals may be preserved in the right conditions, such as being preserved in ice or permafrost, but only within a certain timeframe. This means non-bird Dinosaurs won’t be roaming the Earth anytime soon as their remains are simply too old, but animals like Mammoths and Dire Wolves are possible candidates in theory. Their genetic code is still damaged though, so geneticists may fill in the gaps with genes from living relatives or alter the genome of a close relative to make it resemble the DNA of the extinct animal. The same technology used to clone living animals can be used to clone extinct ones using a surrogate parent that’s closely related to the extinct animal.
Colossal aims to clone a handful of other extinct animals. These are the Woolly Mammoth, Tasmanian Tiger (also known as a Thylacine) and Dodo. The goal is to reintroduce them back into their natural habitats to help restore threatened habitats, as they’re incredibly important to their ecosystems.
The Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) survived up until about 4,000 years ago on Wrangel Island off the coast of Russia. It was once found across Eurasia (including Ireland) and into the northern parts of North America. Climate change, habitat loss and Human hunting lead to its extinction.
The Dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was a large species of flightless pigeon from the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. The Dodo’s reputation as a stupid bird is undeserved, as it simply lacked fear of people due to living on an island without predators. Hunting, habitat loss and invasive species wiped them out. The last Dodos died in the 17th century.
The Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), also known as the Tasmanian Tiger, was a marsupial native to Tasmania (and mainland Australia historically). Despite looking similar to a Wolf, it was actually a Marsupial like a Kangaroo or Koala. The Thylacine disappeared in mainland Australia due to Humans arriving on the continent and competition with the introduced Dingo. They survived in Tasmania until European settlers arrived. The poor Thylacine suffered a fate similar to the Wolves in Ireland, culled out of fear they would kill livestock. The last Thylacine died in a zoo in Tasmania on September 7th, 1936.
A pair of Thylacines at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington D.C. This photo was taken in 1904. As of 2020, there are 113 known photographs of living Thylacines alongside a few short films.
Has the Dire Wolf really returned?
The short answer is technically no.
The longer answer is more complicated! In the creation of their Wolves, Colossal edited the genes of a Grey Wolf to more closely match the genes of a Dire Wolf. Ancient DNA is rare, but some Dire Wolf fossils are in good enough shape that they preserve some genetic code. Since DNA acts like the blueprint of a living thing, so changing the genes of an animal can change their appearance and traits. This is known as a phenotype.
No ancient DNA was used in the creation of Colossal’s Wolves. Rather, specific genes were edited to match those of the Dire Wolf, with the hope that the cubs would resemble Dire Wolves in appearance and behaviour. The cubs are still Grey Wolves, the same species as the Wolves that call Wild Ireland home, but they have been genetically modified to exhibit certain traits.
Colossal scientists select specific traits in their Wolves, such as larger size and bulkier jaws. They also deliberately selected for genes that gave their Wolves a white coat, much like Finn living here at Wild Ireland, mentioning that the ancient genomes they studied showed Dire Wolves may have had paler coats than once believed. However, Colossal’s research on Dire Wolf genetics is yet to be published.
So Colossal’s Wolves aren’t true Dire Wolves, but as the cubs continue to grow, they should begin to show more of the traits that the researchers expect the Dire Wolf would have had. Unfortunately, the real Dire Wolf remains extinct.
Should we Bring them Back?
De-extinction is a complicated topic for a lot of reasons. While it’s tempting to draw comparisons to the Jurassic Park films and all the reasons they went wrong, the concerns are less about Mammoths, Dire Wolves and Dodo birds terrorising the public and more so the ethics of de-extinction and welfare of the animals themselves.
Many conservationists are concerned about the idea of de-extinction. There is a real possibility that, if the technology continues to advance and become more widespread and affordable, it may harm efforts to conserve natural habitats and species that exist today. It’s possible the urgency to protect wildlife may be reduced because ‘we can just bring them back later.’ This is a reckless way of thinking, of course, as conservation of living species should always be a priority and de-extinction is expensive and may not always be successful, if possible at all.
There are also concerns about animal welfare. Colossal made a name for themselves by announcing their goal to bring the Woolly Mammoth back from extinction by using modern Asian Elephants as a surrogate. The idea behind their resurrection is to introduce the species back into Siberia, where their grazing would encourage more diverse plant communities and lock away carbon, helping in the fight against global warming. The problem is Elephants are an endangered species. Is it ethical to do these tests with endangered species? Elephants are also incredibly intelligent, which brings another ethical concern.
The world has changed since these animals last walked the Earth. With habitat loss, climate change and increasing pressures due to Humans, is it right to reintroduce animals to our landscape that may have been gone from the planet for hundreds, if not thousands of years such as Mammoths? However, it is equally possible that more recently extinct species such as Thylacines and Dodos would have an incredibly positive impact on the environment. But for species like the Dire Wolf, is it right to bring species back that cannot return to the wild? Colossal’s Wolves will never return to the wild, as the habitat they relied on no longer exists and they risk interbreeding with wild Wolves. The wolves currently live in a massive reserve where they are cared for by a team of scientists and keepers.
Thankfully, Colossal’s technology and funding is being put to good use. The de-extinction company funds and supports dozens of other organisations globally, including various zoos, sanctuaries and aquariums alongside organisations that work in the field to help conserve the planet’s wildlife.
While the focus has been on the cloned Wolves, this groundbreaking technology can be used to create to save species from extinction as well. On the 10th of December 2020, a female Black-footed Ferret was born in a facility in Colorado. Black-footed Ferrets are an endangered species, the only Ferret native to North America and one of the continent’s rarest animals with less than 400 left in the wild. However, this young Ferret was truly one of a kind.
Elizabeth Ann posing for a photo. Ann is unable to breed due to reproductive issues which are unrelated to the cloning process. Two other Black-footed Ferrets, named Noreen and Antonia, were cloned in April of 2024. Antonia later had three kits of her own in June 2024.
Her name is Elizabeth Ann, and she is the first clone of her species. Ann was cloned from preserved egg cells collected from a dead Ferret back in the 1980s. These eggs were kept in San Diego Zoo’s Frozen Zoo, a lab that cryogenically preserves animal cells for the future. This acts like an insurance policy in case species do go extinct. A Domestic Ferret, the same one you may keep as a pet, was used as a surrogate mother.
All Black-footed Ferrets alive up to that point have descended from seven animals rediscovered in 1981 after having been believed to have become extinct. This means these animals aren’t diverse genetically, which can lead to potential issues such as being more prone to disease. Ann, and other cloned Ferrets born after her, are not related to other Black-footed Ferrets. This means the offspring they could have will be healthier, helping to save their species. Other endangered species have been cloned too, such as a species of wild cattle called Gaur and the Przewalski’s Horse (also known as Takhi).
Amid the 6th mass extinction, where over 1 million animals and plants are at risk of extinction, the same genetics technology and cloning companies like Colossal could be an important tool to help threatened species survive into the future, giving them the extra hand they need. After all, we should all protect the wildlife that needs help now to prevent them from going the way of the Dire Wolf.
