The dire wolf, lost to history over 10,000 years ago, has returned, howling once again following its species’ “de-extinction.”
Colossal Biosciences, an American biotechnology and genetic engineering company, introduced pups Romulus and Remus and their sister, 2-month-old Khaleesi. They were born from genetic edits derived from a complete dire wolf genome.
Romulus and Remus are the first animals ever resurrected from extinction. The dire wolf was reborn on October 1, 2024, using ancient DNA extracted from fossilized remains dating back 11,500 and 72,000 years.
The dire wolves were raised by a domestic dog via surrogacy. After the dogs had raised their litters, the company began working with the American Humane Society to find the best homes for them.
“With the birth of Romulus and Remus, de-extinction is no longer theory—it’s reality. There’s more work ahead, but this moment redefines what’s possible for the planet’s future,” Colossal Biosciences said.
Meanwhile, TIME Magazine met Romulus and Remus at a fenced field in a U.S. wildlife facility. Their location remains a secret “to protect the animals from prying eyes.”
“[Dire Wolves habitat] is actually a really well-thought-out secure facility. In addition to multiple layers of containment or fencing that help keep the wolves safe and happy and healthy right here in their preserve,” Matt James, the chief animal officer of Colossal Biosciences said in a video.
He added, “It also keeps people away in addition to keeping people away. We’re always monitoring the animals and the area around them.
Dire wolves in the ecosystem
According to renowned environmental writer and historian Dan Flores, the profound implications of Colossal’s dire wolf de-extinction project “could reshape the future of conservation and our planet itself.”
“Wolves are ecosystem engineers. They are such an important presence in American ecosystems that they change the way everything beneath them, is configured, right down to the grasses and trees that grow, along streams. native people clearly regarded wolves as teachers, as totem animals, as animals that they modeled themselves after,” he said.
Beth Shapiro, the chief science officer of Colossal Biosciences, echoed this, saying, “If we want a future that is both biodiverse and filled with people, we are going to have to become more efficient gardeners of the ecosystems of this world. These technologies make that possible.”
Colossal is an innovative bioscience and genetic engineering company focused on developing groundbreaking technologies to advance genomics.
The company is the first to apply CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) technology for species de-extinction.
The dire wolf was recently popularized in the HBO series Game of Thrones as companions of the Stark children.
