Born Again in Texas: First ‘De-Extincted’ Dire Wolves Revealed by Dallas Firm

Dallas-based Colossal Biosciences has successfully made three dire wolf pups using ancient DNA, gene editing, and cloning methods. The company says this is the first successful "de-extinction" of an animal in the world. The puppies were born in a safe place in Texas. This is a big step forward for the state's growing role in bioengineering and synthetic biology.

The last dire wolf, Aenocyon dirus, lived about 12,500 years ago. The huge dog was a top hunter that used to live all over North America, including parts of Texas. Colossal said it used DNA from ancient remains, like a tooth from 13,000 years ago and a skull from 72,000 years ago, to make a copy of the creature's wide head, thick white fur, and strong jaws.

The company made it clear that the animals are not exact genetic copies, but rather functional hybrids made by changing the DNA of gray wolves, which are the dire wolf's closest living cousin. Scientists put the changed DNA into dog egg cells to make clones after finding 20 important changes to 14 genes.

The dire wolf pups are currently living on a 2,000-acre property in Texas that is fenced in like a zoo and watched over by security staff and drones. Colossal says the building has been approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Humane Society.

Colossal has gotten news around the world for its work to bring back extinct species like the woolly mammoth and the dodo. It had not previously said that it was working on dire wolves. The company says this successful milestone shows that its whole de-extinction process is now up and running, from gene sequencing to live birth.

Texas has been a star in medical and agricultural science for a long time. This project shows that the state is now also interested in synthetic biology and genetic innovation. It's still not clear what the long-term effects will be, but this new information makes people excited and asks moral questions about the future of wildlife and efforts to save species.

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