May 14, 2025

Chloe Harizate

11th Grade

Brooklyn Technical High School 

For a long time, the idea of reviving species from extinction seemed chimerical– dismissed by both the general public and, to an extent, the scientific community as largely fantastical. However, biotech company Colossal Biosciences made headlines on April 5, 2025, by claiming to have successfully “restored” the extinct dire wolf species via “the science of de-extinction”– with three puppies to show, making their debut. 

Colossal Biosciences was founded in response to the danger that relentless human activity currently poses to the stability of ecosystems. Overall, the company endeavors to make contributions to help reverse the negative human-driven effects suffered by the biosphere; they aim to achieve their goal with the innovation of de-extinction science. It is understood that the loss of species due to extinction destabilizes our ecosystems. This is now as critical as ever since, according to Colossal, the rate of species decline is at an all-time high, with the current extinction rate being 1,000-10,000 times faster than the established baseline rate. Given that the quicker and larger the extent to which species die out, the less stable life on earth becomes, Colossal Biosciences ultimately strives to “make extinction a thing of the past”; right now, primarily seeking to restore species that already went extinct due to human impact. In doing this, Colossal hopes to bring back some stability for ecosystems. Currently, they have their sights set on multiple species, including the dire wolf as well as the dodo bird, wooly mammoth, and others. 

Despite being viewed by some in a negative light due to their presumed violent nature, predators such as wolves are keystone animals in their ecosystems. Wolves, largely belonging to the wildlife of the United States, are actually highly beneficial in stabilizing life around them. For one, wolves help regulate the populations of their prey, such as deer. This ensures that the plant life consumed by their prey does not get overgrazed. Aside from benefiting the environment, wolf kills also help sustain species by serving as a food source for other animals of the ecosystem. This is supported by an instance in Yellowstone National Park– such that was noted by Colossal Biosciences. During the 1930s, Gray wolf populations in Yellowstone dwindled due to predator control-based hunting. As a result, the Yellowstone ecosystem suffered– biodiversity was lost, exponential growth of deer populations led to overgrazing, animal populations such as beavers became low in numbers, etc. Gray wolves were then reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, and the results were overwhelmingly positive. The suffering ecosystem was able to be revived, and the park’s ecology continues to flourish. 

Based on this concept, Colossal Biosciences aims to apply the same methodology in order to stabilize ecosystems. In the case of the dire wolf, they want to reintroduce that predator back into their native biomes, anticipating that it will spark positive environmental change similar to that of the 1995 gray wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone National Park. Colossal also acknowledges the cultural significance that the dire wolf holds for people such as Native Americans, thus further driving them to bring back the dire wolf.

The dire wolf pups introduced on April 5th, known as Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi,  were brought into the world through the laborious work of molecular genetics and genetic engineering. The rudimentary concept of the process is based on the cloning technique which was used to create the famous Dolly the sheep. This methodology consists of a diploid cell with the DNA of an animal being inserted into the egg of a surrogate in order to birth a “clone”.  Traditionally, this process requires a cell(s) containing the full diploid genome of the animal being cloned. 

However, this was not possible since the dire wolves had been long extinct. Colossal instead was able to acquire viable DNA samples from the wolves’ remains and isolate the entire genome of the dire wolf from the samples. Subsequently, the scientists at Colossal were able to compare the dire wolf genome to that of their closest living “relative”, the gray wolf; using this information, Colossal was able to overcome the issue of needing live cell(s) of the animal by instead genetically engineering gray wolf cells to express genes of the dire wolf. Using the modified gray wolf cells and domestic dog surrogates, the scientists were able to successfully create the pups that Colossal calls dire wolf clones. 

Phrases such as “dire wolf clone” and “restored through de-extinction”  quickly became a controversy within the scientific community. Critics reject the claim that Colossal revived the dire wolf, asserting that they only cloned a gray wolf with some dire wolf traits, which cannot be considered the same as actually cloning a dire wolf and bringing the species back from extinction. There exist many more genetic differences between the dire wolf and gray wolf than the approximately 20 accounted for by Colossal. It has also been attested that Colossal also genetically modified parts of the gray wolves’ genome completely differently than how the genes are present in the dire wolf genome, specifically in the segments that encoded for fur color.  Additionally, some critics also question the extent to which Colossal’s doings will play a role in and benefit modern ecosystems, given the fact that the dire wolf has been extinct for over 10,000 years. 

Still, what Colossal did was an act of ingenious novelty that introduced theoretical means to, if not bring extinct species back, save endangered species, and help stop the increasing rate of decline in animal populations. Dire wolf or not, this technology is still important, serving as a testament to how far scientific technology in genetic engineering has come.