Just recently, scientists brought the dire wolf back from extinction using the new and updated technology available. This is very impressive because the dire wolf has been extinct for about 13,000 years, and has just now been brought back. Dire wolves once roamed as far south as Venezuela and as far north as Canada, then suddenly went extinct.

Colossal Biosciences is the company that was up for the challenge to bring back the dire wolf, and they were able to do it. They originally were trying to bring the wooly mammoth and the Tasmanian tiger in 2021, but they had not told the public about resurrecting the dire wolf, so it was a surprise to everyone. 

But instead, Colossal Biosciences revealed to the public that they had produced three live dire wolf puppies, which were later named Remus, Romulus, and Khaleesi. 

Scientists brought back the dire wolf pups by using ancient DNA from the original dire wolf fossils, and also using cloning and gene editing technology to alter the genes of a grey wolf, which is the dire wolf’s closest living relative. 

This was important because in order for this to be completed, they had to find a close relative to the dire wolf that had similar genes to the original dire wolves.

Scientists saw that it only took a few genetic changes to modify the genes between a living species and an extinct species. A wolf has about 19,000 genes, and creating the dire wolves called for making 20 edits in 14 genes in the grey wolf.

But, those tweaks gave the dire wolves differences including a larger size, white coat, wider head, more powerful shoulders, larger teeth and jaws, more muscular legs, and louder vocals, especially whining and howling.

The Center for Biological Diversity says that by 2050, about 30 percent of the planet’s genetic diversity will be gone, and that genetic engineering is a vital tool to reverse this.

The result of editing the grey wolf’s genes was a hybrid species that was similar in appearance to the extinct dire wolves, and had most of the same DNA sequences, so the dire wolf didn’t have all the exact genes as it did before it went extinct. Although the dire wolves and grey wolves were close relatives, they still had some major differences between them. 

The grey wolves were slightly smaller than the dire wolves, and the dire wolves had a slightly larger head, stronger jaw, and thicker fur. In March, the company surprised the public with the news that they copied mammoth DNA to create a wooly mammoth. Scientists have more tools available  to bring back extinct animals because of gene editing tools.

Bringing back the dire wolf was an amazing idea , because now they are able to help the other wolves keep the elk and deer population healthy and keep the other animals in balance.

I think that we should continue bringing back more extinct animals that won’t be able to impact or change the population greatly, like the dire wolves or wooly mammoths. These extinct animals brought back can be able to help out the animals we have now, like by hunting. They will be able to adapt to their new environment so that the extinct animals will be able to survive in their new area where they live now.