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 ...
Collect the scientists and lock them up in a bread and water dungeon for life.
I recently read the latest book by Doug Preston. He and Lincoln Child have written books together for years with different characters they've developed. The main one is Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast. Preston's recent book is titled "Extinction." It takes place at a resort in a private valley. The resort features Wooly Mammoths, Irish Elk and Giant Sloths that have been de-extincted and brought back. To make a long story short, unknown to the people who stay at the resort, scientists have also de-extincted Neanderthals, and a group of them have broken out of their quarters deep within a cave system, make their way to the valley the resort sits on, and begin to cause havoc. This book is the first in a series featuring a female detective sent to investigate the deaths that have occurred on resort property.
We’ll know something’s up when people’s cats start going missing, and it isn’t the Haitians doing it.
Frankenstein lives!
I mean Frawnkenschteen lives.
It's like when countries introduce a species to eliminate another marauding species. Eventually, the introduced species ends up creating even more problems that didn't exist previously.
“Since it is just a big wolf, I would breeding wolves for their size would result them returning.”
Except for one thing they may not have thought about. What about temperament and aggressiveness?
Are they absolutely savage with no inhibitions or fear of humans at all? Will these traits be passed on to the offspring?
From what I have read the survival success of Dire Wolves was most likely due to their savageness as a Predator and lack of fear.
I might have painted those at one time.
Frau Blucher!! 🤣
They plan to bring back the Dodo Bird so some day, there may be a Dodo Bird Ping. Woolly Mammoth and Tasmanian Tiger Pings too. https://colossal.com/species/
Yeah, I know... They really should not play God like this... They might become feral and then PETA will protect them.
Dire Wolf ping.
“He Would Have An Enormous Schwanzschtücker.”
Yeah, I have been following this DNA resurrection for years now. It really is a bad concept. For example... Did this Dire Wolf have a disease? Are they ignorantly resurrecting an extinct disease at the same time?
Re Sabertooth Cats,
Holy crap I forgot about those….
That would not be good
Do they taste good?
Yep. I played D&D back in the day. Painted a lot of minitures too.
"Ah, sweet mystery of life at last I've found thee!!
So headline is a lie.
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