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Scientists, with the help of ancient DNA, cloning and gene-editing technology, brought back dire wolves that went extinct around 12,500 years ago. The scientists have described the achievement as the “world’s first de-extinction”.
Dire wolves, an extinct canine species, roamed the Americas around 12,500 years ago. As per historical data, they’re known for their impressive size, similar to the largest modern grey wolves.
In a statement, Colossal CEO Ben Lamm said, “Our team took DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000 year old skull and made healthy dire wolf puppies. It was once said, ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ Today, our team gets to unveil some of the magic they are working on.”
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On its website, the company said that for the first time in human history, Colossal successfully restored a once-eradicated species through the science of de-extinction on October 1, 2024. The team is proud to return the dire wolf to its rightful place in the ecosystem after a 10,000+ year absence.
Dire wolves are now classified under the genus Aenocyon, with some studies suggesting they may have originated in the Americas, separate from the genus Canis.
The largest collection of dire wolf fossils comes from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, providing valuable insights into their evolution and ecology.
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The company said that thousands of intact skeletons have been retrieved from the La Brea tar pits—remnants of countless dire wolves, having desperately pursued prey into the inescapable, scorching black ooze. The company added that, unfortunately, submerging a skeleton in hot tar for thousands of years does not preserve DNA well.
“The de-extinction of the dire wolf and an end-to-end system for de-extinction is transformative and heralds an entirely new era of human stewardship of life,” said Dr Christopher Mason, a scientific advisor and member of the board of observers for Colossal.
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What was the process?
Out of 46 specimens, an international study conducted by more than 50 experts attempted to decode the dire wolf genome; however, only two samples produced useable DNA. Furthermore, the data obtained from the sequencing of only 25% of the dire wolf genome was as deterrent as extinction itself.
“Our team examined the two most promising dire wolf samples, uncovering 55x more DNA to expand on the findings of the international team,” the company said.
These two most promising examples were made available to the Colossal scientists, who were able to resample these specimens with the assistance of Beth Shapiro, Chief Science Officer at Colossal, and the teams.
“Our team examined the two most promising dire wolf samples, uncovering 55x more DNA to expand on the findings of the international team.
George Church, PhD and Colossal co-founder, said, as per the website, that preserving, expanding and testing genetic diversity should be done well before important endangered animal species like the red wolf are lost.
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“Another source of ecosystem variety stems from our new technologies to de-extinct lost genes, including deep ancient DNA sequencing, polyphyletic trait analyses, multiplex germline editing, and cloning. The dire wolf is an early example of this, including the largest number of precise genomic edits in a healthy vertebrate so far. A capability that is growing exponentially,” Church added.
Colossal says that it has been working toward resurrecting the mammoth, dodo and Tasmanian tiger since 2021. Sara Ord, Director of Species Restoration at Colossal, said, “I couldn’t be more proud of the team for their hard work and dedication to making this extraordinary project a success and bringing back the dire wolf to this world again.”
“Together, we’ve not only proven these technologies viable—we’ve demonstrated that de-extinction technologies are ready to fundamentally reshape our understanding of what’s possible through de-extinction conservation,” Ord added.
(With inputs from agencies)
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