Colossal Biosciences, a company that aims to “de-extinct” animals, announced Monday its scientists successfully genetically engineered three wolves to resemble the long-extinct dire wolf.
The dire wolf, made famous by the television series “Game of Thrones,” has been extinct for more than 10,000 years. But using ancient DNA samples found in fossils, scientists were able to decipher the dire wolf genome and rewrite the genome of gray wolves to match it.
The company then used domestic dogs as the wolves’ surrogate mothers, and they gave birth to three wolves: Two are 6 months old and male, named Romulus and Remus, and their sister, Khaleesi, is 2 months old.
The older wolves already measure nearly 4 feet long and weigh about 80 pounds. According to the company, they could grow to be 6 feet long and weigh 150 pounds.
The company is describing the births of the dire wolves as “bringing back the first animals from extinction.”
“This achievement is the result of years of pioneering science, tireless innovation, and unwavering dedication,” the company said Monday in a statement.
“It marks a major milestone not only for our company, but for science, conservation, and humanity. With the birth of Romulus and Remus, de-extinction is no longer theory—it’s reality. There’s more work ahead, but this moment redefines what’s possible for the planet’s future,” the company added.
Some independent scientists have pushed back on the idea the dire wolf has gone through “de-extinction.”
“All you can do now is make something look superficially like something else,” not fully revive extinct species, Vincent Lynch, a biologist at the University at Buffalo who was not involved in the research, told The Associated Press.