Three genetically engineered wolves resembling extinct dire wolves are being raised in a secure location in the U.S. by the company Colossal Biosciences. These wolf pups have long white hair, muscular jaws, and are on track to reach 140 pounds at maturity. Dire wolves, extinct for over 10,000 years, are much larger than gray wolves, their closest living relatives. The researchers used CRISPR to genetically modify cells from living gray wolves to create the pups, who may physically resemble dire wolves but won’t learn behaviors from wild dire wolf parents.
In addition to the genetically engineered dire wolves, Colossal also cloned four red wolves using blood drawn from wild wolves in the critically endangered red wolf population of the southeastern U.S. This aims to bring more genetic diversity into the small captive red wolf population. This technology may have broader applications for conservation of other species, as it is less invasive than other cloning techniques, but it still requires sedating a wild wolf for blood draws.
While the company is working to bring back extinct species, scientists caution that there are limitations to this type of genetic engineering. The revived species may not be able to perform the same ecological functions they once did on today’s existing landscapes. Some believe that the project to revive the dire wolf and other extinct species is more about creating superficial similarities rather than fully reviving the species as they once were.
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