It has been over 12,000 years since the last dire wolves vanished from the Earth.
But the apex predators, made famous by Game of Thrones, are once again growing their pack.
Last year, Colossal Biosciences genetically engineered the first litter of dire wolf pups, bringing this ice age species back from extinction.
Now, the first female dire wolf has finally been introduced to her two older brothers for the first time.
The male pups, Romulus and Remus, are now approaching one year old and have grown to be much larger than grey wolves of a similar age.
The female dire wolf, named Khaleesi after the Game of Thrones character, is just six months old and a lot smaller than her two older siblings.
Khaleesi had been raised separately for health monitoring and individual development, but Colossal Biosciences decided it was finally time for a family reunion.
In an adorable new video, you can watch Khaleesi and her siblings happily playing together as their handlers watch on carefully.
The first female dire wolf to walk the Earth in around 12,000 years has finally be introduced to her pack as Colossal Biosciences pursues its goal of bringing the species back from extinction
The six–month-old dire wolf (pictured) was introduced to her older brothers, Romulus and Remus, so that she can become part of the pack
The first female dire wolf gets here name from the Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen, also known as Khaleesi
To create Khaleesi, Colossal Biosciences started by reconstructing the dire wolf genome from genes found in fragments of bone.
Using this genome as a reference, scientists then genetically modified a grey wolf embryo so that it closely resembled the extinct dire wolf.
This hybrid embryo was then implanted in a surrogate dog mother, which gave birth to an animal which is extremely similar to a dire wolf.
The males, born in October 2024, grew rapidly, reaching over 40 kg (90 lbs) in just six months.
Although the males and females were initially raised separately, Colossal Biosciences is now working to bring them together into a single pack.
Colossal Biosciences CEO Ben Lamm told USA Today: ‘We’re working through the socialisation and the introduction of Khaleesi into the pack.
‘They’re starting to behave more and more like wolves. We don’t want them to be lap dogs.’
In this video, Khaleesi is let out into a large enclosure on Colossal Biosciences’ 2,000–acre wildlife reserve, where she is given the chance to meet her brother, Romulus, for the first time.
Khaleesi was placed in a locked enclosure where she was allowed to interact with Romulus, then Remus, then both of the male dire wolves in turn
After being a little nervous to meet the larger dire wolves, Khaleesi and her brothers were soon happily playing and chasing each other around the enclosure
Dire wolves were made famous by the novels and HBO show Game of Thrones, in which they appear as giant wolf-like creatures
Since Romulus is much larger than Khaleesi, the smaller female was initially a little uncertain.
Paige McNickle, manager of animal husbandry at Colossal Biosciences, says: ‘At first, she was a little like, ‘Whoa, he’s right there.”‘
However, after giving each other a sniff, the pair soon set off in a playful run.
‘They were playing with each other. Their ears were up the entire time, which is a good, happy, calm, wolf behaviour that we were hoping to see,’ says Ms McNickle
After Khaleesi and Romulus had been introduced, Romulus was removed, and Remus was brought into the enclosure.
Ms McNickle says: ‘They were both excited. Everybody was so good in play, but Remus is almost more gentle than Romulus.
‘Romulus is just a little bit bigger, and Remus did really good. We saw lots of play behaviours.
‘They kept their ears up, they wagged their tails. They followed each other around. They all got to explore the pool together. When they got hot, they went right over and cooled themselves off, especially Khaleesi.’
After being extinct for around 12,000 years, Colossal Biosciences turned Game of Thrones’ author George R. R. Martin’s dire wolves into a reality. Pictured: George R. R. Martin holding a dire wolf pup
Colossal Biosciences CEO Ben Lamm says that Khaleesi has been ‘completely accepted into the pack’
Then, finally, the whole trio were allowed to play together as a group, marking the first time a pack of male and female dire wolves has been together in over 12,000 years.
Although Khaleesi became a little frightened or uncertain at times, Mr Lamm says that she has now ‘been completely accepted into the pack.’
However, Colossal Biosciences’ pack won’t stop at just three dire wolves.
Mr Lamm says the company has plans to engineer two to four more dire wolves over the coming years.
Rather than allowing the dire wolves to breed, Colossal Biosciences wants to engineer the wolves from different cell populations so that the pack has more genetic diversity.
Once the pack contains multiple dire wolves at different ages, natural pack dynamics and hierarchies should start to emerge.
Currently, Remus, the smaller of the two males, appears to be emerging as the leader.
Mr Lamm says that Remus ‘kind of became the star’ and that the young wolf ‘really has this take–charge attitude’.
Scientists created Khaleesi and her brothers by genetically editing grey wolf embryos (pictured) to have characteristics found in the dire wolf genome. The resulting hybrids were then carried to term by dog surrogates
Colossal Biosciences says it has plans to engineer two to four more dire wolf pups to introduce into the pack before they will be allowed to breed
Colossal Biosciences plans to keep the dire wolf pack enclosed in the nature reserve and feed them meat, rather than letting them hunt wild game.
However, some experts have warned that a large pack of ice age predators could become dangerous.
Nic Rawlence, a palaeontologist at the University of Otago, previously told Daily Mail: ‘If released into the wild in large enough numbers to establish a self–sustaining population, this new wolf could potentially take down prey larger than that hunted by grey wolves.
‘There would also be the potential for increased human and wolf conflict. This sort of conflict is increasing as wolf populations recover in the USA.’
