A company based in Dallas claims to have resurrected the direwolf, Aenocyon dirus, a species which first roamed the earth roughly 2.5 million years ago. Biotech company Colossal Biosciences states that the species of wolf is the “world’s first successfully de-extincted animal.”
Indeed, according to CNN, “two male dire wolf pups were born on October 1, 2024, while a female pup was born on January 30, 2025.” The fluffy white pups are living in an undisclosed location on a 2,000-acre site and are named Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi.
While the wolves are not exact genetic replicas of the original direwolves, this is still a huge scientific landmark. However, as one paleoecologist at the University of Maine says, “The problem now is that the public is going to believe that an animal that lived 10,000 years ago is back. And it is not.”
Some argue that this push for de-extinction is taking away from conservation efforts. However, Jeffrey Kluger, writing for Time Magazine, said, “Just as important as Colossal’s mission to restore extinct species is its efforts to stop endangered ones from winking out completely. At the same time, the company’s scientists are bringing back the dire wolf, for example, they are attempting to save the red wolf.”
Overall, de-extinction is a critical achievement for the scientific community. While these direwolves may not be exact copies of the original species, they still represent a milestone in genetic history.
