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Scientists Revive the Dire Wolf, or Something Close
NYT ^ | 4/7/2025 | Carl Zimmer

Posted on 04/07/2025 10:34:20 AM PDT by Pollard

For more than a decade, scientists have chased the idea of reviving extinct species, a process sometimes called de-extinction. Now, a company called Colossal Biosciences appears to have done it, or something close, with the dire wolf, a giant, extinct species made famous by the television series “Game of Thrones.”

In 2021, a separate team of scientists managed to retrieve DNA from the fossils of dire wolves, which went extinct about 13,000 years ago. With the discovery of additional DNA, the Colossal researchers have now edited 20 genes of gray wolves to imbue the animals with key features of dire wolves. They then created embryos from the edited gray-wolf cells, implanted them in surrogate dog mothers and waited for them to give birth.

The result is three healthy wolves — two males that are 6 months old and one female that is 2 months old, named Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi — that have some traits of dire wolves.

They are big, for one thing, and have dense, pale coats not found in gray wolves. Colossal, which was valued at $10 billion in January, is keeping the wolves on a private 2,000-acre facility at an undisclosed location in the northern United States.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Pets/Animals; Science
KEYWORDS: carlzimmer; colossalbiosciences; cryptobiology; deextinction; direwolf; gameofthrones; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble
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To: Pennsyltucky Boy

Income possibilities (payer)

Restoring recently lost species, namely those killed off by man (donors or paid for by lawsuits)

Gene banks for all the species of a country (country pays)

Gene bank for your beloved pet so it can be reproduced to replace one that died (consumer) creepy

Maybe one day growing a human organ to replace one that’s failing (consumer/hospitals/health care)

Oh, and the CIA is one of their donors (fedgov) creepy/scary


121 posted on 04/08/2025 12:04:01 PM PDT by Pollard (Zone 6b)
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To: TexasGator

And you fell for it.
I knew you couldn’t stand the idea of a citizen taking a long shot and getting away with it.
Just surprised I didn’t get any cut and paste self righteous info on how fbi snipers are immune to prosecution.
Out of all the FReepers, I knew you would be unable to stand reading the stupid comment I posted.
Hope I made your day better.


122 posted on 04/09/2025 6:32:01 AM PDT by GranTorino (Bloody Lips Save Ships)
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To: Pollard

How do they confirm that the precipitating relics are from the dire wolf?


123 posted on 04/09/2025 6:32:59 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: GranTorino

“Hope I made your day better”

The old troll is back.
You don’t disappoint


124 posted on 04/09/2025 6:36:29 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: TexasGator

Fishing has never been so easy.


125 posted on 04/09/2025 7:11:08 AM PDT by GranTorino (Bloody Lips Save Ships)
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To: 9YearLurker

Skull & teeth shape and carbon dating. Some archeology societies go by teeth alone when deciding mammal species.


126 posted on 04/09/2025 8:14:28 AM PDT by Pollard (Zone 6b)
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To: Pollard

Seems like speculation built on speculation to me.


127 posted on 04/09/2025 8:36:13 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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