Call Me Stormy

Dire Wolf Brought Back To Life

A biosciences company has revived a species of rare wolves that went extinct thousands of years ago. The dire wolf, often associated with the Game of Thrones, was a real animal that lived across the Americas, as well as parts of Asia and Europe, more than 10,000 years ago.

Colossal Biosciences, based out of Dallas, Texas, has succeeded in bringing back three of the wolves — two brothers — Remus and Romulus — and now, a younger sister named Khalessi. The CEO of the firm, Ben Lamm, revealed the dire wolf success in a talk Monday with Joe Rogan on The Joe Rogan Experience. The wolves are not yet hunting, but they have a 2,000-acre preserve — at an undisclosed American location — where they are free to roam.

“I could not be more proud of the team. This massive milestone is the first of many coming examples demonstrating that our end-to-end de-extinction technology stack works,”  Lamm said. “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.”

Colossal Biosciences is working on reviving other extinct species, notably the woolly mammoth.