A previously extinct wolf has been born for the first time in 12,500 years after a scientific breakthrough from the world’s first de-extinction company.
American biotech company Colossal Biosciences has produced three Dire Wolves, named Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi, using the DNA of a tooth and skull of the extinct animal.
Scientists made 20 unique edits to the animal’s DNA, including 15 edits from ancient animal genes that have not existed in over 12,000 years – birthing the Dire Wolf.
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“I could not be more proud of the team,” Colossal chief executive Ben Lamm said.
“This massive milestone is the first of many coming examples demonstrating that our end-to-end de-extinction technology stack works.”
“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 and its broader impact on conservation.”
The Wolves are living on a 2000+ acre preserve, with around-the-clock care from staff to support the animals’ physical and mental health.
The company also birthed two litters of red wolves, the most critically endangered wolf in the world.
They were able to use a new approach to a non-invasive type of blood cloning to produce the litter from three genetic founder lines.
“Preserving, expanding, and testing genetic diversity should be done well before important endangered animal species like the red wolf are lost,” Colossal co-founder and Harvard geneticist Dr George Church said.
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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.”
The Dire Wolf featured in the hit TV series Game of Thrones.
The wolves, known scientifically as Aenocyon dirus, lived on the US continent during the Pleistocene ice ages, with the oldest known fossil of the animal dating back 250,000 years.
Colossal’s genomic data suggests the wolves’ lineage first appeared between 3.5 million and 2.5 million years ago.
The Wolves went extinct during the most recent ice age, around 13,000 years ago.
