Through genetic engineering, scientists have brought the dire wolf, a species that went extinct about 12,500 years ago, back to life. Romulus and Remus are the names of the two puppies that have captivated the scientific community. Even though they are only six months old, they already weigh more than 36 kg and are almost four feet tall. According to a report, the Texas-based Colossal Biosciences, the business responsible for their resuscitation, claimed to have produced the dire wolf pups by gene editing, cloning, and ancient DNA. The HBO series ‘Game of Thrones’ popularized the dire wolf.
The gray wolf, its closest living relative, provided the scientists with its DNA. Once roaming North America, the dire wolf was a top predator. They are larger in size than the gray wolves and have a slightly thicker fur and stronger jaw. “The idea that we could just take a vial of blood, isolate EPCs, culture them, and clone from them, and they have a pretty high cloning efficiency, we think it’s a game changer,” George Church, Colossal co-founder, and professor of genetics at both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), told.
Billionaire Elon Musk reacted to the news, posting his own Wishlist. “Please make a miniature pet wooly mammoth,” Musk posted on X, while resharing his own post.
The pups were bottle-fed by the Colossal team after being fed by a surrogate for a few days after delivery. According to the company, they are currently leading healthy lives as young dire wolves. However, the pups’ behavior differs from that of other wolf species that are now in existence. According to Time, the joy that pups display when they are with people is totally gone. When someone approaches, Romulus and Remus stay away and turn away. Even one of the handlers, who has raised them from birth, can get only so close before the pups flinch.
It is said that the behavior is typical of dire wolves, who desire solitude. One of the species that Colossal intends to bring back to life is this one. The Tasmanian tiger, mammoth, and dodo are others, albeit their other endeavors have not been entirely successful. The scientists, however, have hope.
“This massive milestone is the first of many coming examples demonstrating that our end-to-end de-extinction technology stack works,” said Ben Lamm, Colossal’s co-founder and CEO, in a press statement. “Our team took DNA from a 13,000 year old tooth and a 72,000 year old skull and made healthy dire wolf puppies.”
The dire wolves are living on a 2,000-acre site at an undisclosed location enclosed by 10-foot-tall fencing, where they are monitored by security personnel, drones and live camera feeds. They resurrected three pups in total – two males born on October 1, 2024, and a female born on January 30, 2025.
