Scientists have been trying to bring back wooly mammoths and dodo birds for decades, but have you heard they recently succeeded with another species?
The most recent accomplishment is in the wolf species, the dire wolves.
According to CNN Science, a team of scientists at Colossal Biosciences, a biotech company based in Dallas, TX, created three dire wolf pups with the help of gray wolf DNA, the closest living animal DNA to the extinct animals.
They managed to extract samples for the dire wolf DNA partly from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull.
Two of the three dire wolf pups, Romulus and Remus, are males and were born in October 2024. The last pup, Khaleesi, is a female and was born in January 2025.
World History Encyclopedia states that the names Romulus and Remus take root in Roman mythology for the twin brothers who founded and established the city of Rome. This symbolizes how they are the first of their kind and how there will be many more to come. This also references how the founders were raised by a she-wolf.
““Yes, I believe it’s called ‘reintroducing.’ It’s good for the ecosystem and could help other animals.”
— Michael Cavanaugh, Chemistry teacher
.sno-pullquote-68151eba67f4f { display: flex; float: right; margin: 30px 0 30px 30px; width: 50%; border-color: #ddab5f; border-top-width: 5px; border-right-width: 5px; border-bottom-width: 5px; border-left-width: 5px; background-color: #dddddd; } .sno-pullquote-68151eba67f4f p.pullquotetext, .sno-pullquote-68151eba67f4f p.quotespeaker { color: #000000 !important; } .sno-pullquote-68151eba67f4f .pullquotepic { width: 33%; margin-left: 25px; } .sno-story-body .sno-pullquote-68151eba67f4f p.pullquotetext { font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.4em; } .sno-pullquote-68151eba67f4f .quotebar { background: #dddddd; flex: 0 0 90px; margin-top: -15px; margin-left: -15px; padding-left: 15px; padding-top: 15px; margin-right: 15px; } .sno-pullquote-68151eba67f4f .largequote { color: #444444; } .sno-pullquote-68151eba67f4f .quotebody { width: unset; }The name, Khaleesi, for the female pup is a tribute to a character from the popular show “Game of Thrones.” The show took inspiration from dire wolves for the powerful animals in the show.
The pup is named after the first female queen, Daenerys Targaryen, who is referred to as Khaleesi, which means “queen.” This implies that the pup, Khaleesi, will not only be the first female dire wolf, but that she will also lead the rest.
The Chief Science Officer at Colossal, Beth Shapiro, remarked that their goals did not include making identical copies of the dire wolves, just “functional copies,” which is what the three pups essentially are.
It is controversial to say whether these animals were actually brought back or if scientists just created a wolf that has the same features as the dire wolf.
A professor in evolutionary genomics, Love Dalén, admitted to the rumors that the said animal is still a gray wolf and not a dire wolf. He stated, “There’s no secret that across the genome, this is 99.9 percent gray wolf.”
He said the important part is that the wolves contain direwolf DNA and that these wolves are closer to real dire wolves than anything that has been alive in the last 13,000 years.
““I think that it is a generally a very cool project, but I fear what this might further develop into, like remaking predators and having them take over our ecosystem.“
— Nhyle Barron, ‘27
.sno-pullquote-68151eba6898b { display: flex; float: left; margin: 30px 30px 30px 0; width: 50%; border-color: #ddab5f; border-top-width: 5px; border-right-width: 5px; border-bottom-width: 5px; border-left-width: 5px; background-color: #dddddd; } .sno-pullquote-68151eba6898b p.pullquotetext, .sno-pullquote-68151eba6898b p.quotespeaker { color: #000000 !important; } .sno-pullquote-68151eba6898b .pullquotepic { width: 33%; margin-left: 25px; } .sno-story-body .sno-pullquote-68151eba6898b p.pullquotetext { font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.4em; } .sno-pullquote-68151eba6898b .quotebar { background: #dddddd; flex: 0 0 90px; margin-top: -15px; margin-left: -15px; padding-left: 15px; padding-top: 15px; margin-right: 15px; } .sno-pullquote-68151eba6898b .largequote { color: #444444; } .sno-pullquote-68151eba6898b .quotebody { width: unset; }Another species scientists have been trying to resurrect is the mammoth. Instead of trying to bring back a wooly mammoth out of blue, they are experimenting with smaller creatures.
NPR reported scientists were able to make a “woolly mouse” by mixing mammoth genes that coded for traits such as a woolly coat and long hair, and then looking for similar genes in mouse DNA.
The gene crossing or gene editing resulted in mice with longer, golden-colored fur. Scientists were very happy with the results of the mice and the first step in the long and hard process to giant woolly Asian elephants.
Colossal scientists revealed that they remained hopeful for the woolly elephant experiments to be successful in the next few years. They hope to have embryos of the mammoth dupes by 2026 and the first calves walking around by 2028.
After scientists figure out how to revive the mammoths, they will set their eyes on the dodo birds and thylacine, or the Tasmanian tiger, as it’s more commonly known.
Needless to say, this topic is very controversial, and so the ethical debate continues. At what point does gene editing become unethical?