They were last alive around 13,000 years ago, when the Americas were lush lands of forested mountains, open grasslands and sunny plains.
But scientists now claim to have resurrected the dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus), the extinct canine depicted in the HBO hit series Game of Thrones.
Adorable photos show three pups – named Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi – brought to life by Colossal Biosciences, a genetic engineering company based in Texas.
Impressively, the firm extracted DNA from fossilized dire wolf remains, which was combined with the genetic code of a grey wolf, its smaller living relative.
Although the wolves are being kept in captivity, experts warn that releasing them into the world could have disastrous consequences.
Nic Rawlence, a paleontologist at the University of Otago, compared the Colossal Biosciences’ ambitious efforts with sci-fi classic Jurassic Park.
‘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,’ he told MailOnline.
‘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.’
Texas company Colossal Biosciences said on Monday its researchers had used cloning and gene-editing based on two ancient samples of dire wolf DNA to birth three modern dire wolf pups
Scientists have announced the world’s first de-extinction of an animal species, reintroducing the dire wolf back into the environment
Colossal Biosciences, a genetic engineering company, birthed three dire wolves, naming them Romulus (right), Remus (left) and Khaleesi in honor of the legendary creature made famous from the HBO hit series Game of Thrones
When they last roamed the Earth, dire wolves were about six feet in length and weighed 150 pounds – about the same as an adult human and 25 per cent bigger than the average grey wolf.
Professor Philip Seddon, a zoologist at the University of Otago, stressed that the genetically modified wolves are ‘big carnivores’.
‘If they were roaming around they would survive by hunting other mammals,’ Professor Seddon told MailOnline.
‘Wolves are universally not loved, and wolf reintroduction have been contentious – ask livestock farmers – so maybe genetically modifying grey wolves to make them bigger is not a great idea for rewilding.
‘Fortunately, the plan is to keep them in a big enclosure and feed them meat.’
Michael Knapp, associate professor at the University of Otago’s department of anatomy, thinks they are about as dangerous as the grey wolves they derive from.
The grey wolf is still spread across mainland Europe in countries where they were not driven to extinction – including Sweden, Germany and Spain.
In rare cases, grey wolves have been known to attack humans, but there has been a handful of fatal wolf attacks on humans in recent history.
The wolves are thriving on a more than 2,000-acre secure expansive ecological preserve in the US. Pictured, Romulus and Remus at age three months
A fossil dire wolf skeleton from the Pleistocene of North America on public display at Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Hays, Kansas
Between 2002 and 2020, there were 26 fatal wolf attacks on humans globally, most of which (12) were in Turkey, according to a report by the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research.
Fortunately, wolves are generally shy and elusive animals that avoid human contact, but if released into the wild, their ecological impact – meaning what they would do to their surrounding environment – is ‘hard to predict’, according to Professor Knapp.
‘If they were released in an area where other wolf species have become rare, they may even have a beneficial effect on the ecosystem,’ Professor Knapp said.
According to the experts, these new canines are not truly an extinct species back from the dead, but are just ‘genetically engineered grey wolves’.
‘What Colossal Biosciences have produced is a grey wolf with dire wolf-like characteristics – this is not a de-extincted dire wolf, rather it’s a hybrid,’ Professor Rawlence said.
‘As such if these genetically engineered grey wolves interbred with other wild wolves, then there could be unintended consequences as these dire wolf-like characteristics spread throughout wild wolf populations.’
If the cubs were ever released, Professor Rawlence questioned how they would ‘learn to be a dire wolf’ as the ecosystem the ancient species once lived in no longer exists.
‘It’s the classic thing out of the first Jurassic Park movie, where the Triceratops get very sick because it was eating plants that hadn’t actually evolved when it was around tens of millions of years ago,’ he said.
The muscular build, powerful jaws, and sharp teeth of dire wolves made them menacing predators, according to National Park Service. Pictured, artist’s depiction of the dire wolf
Restoration of a pack in Rancho La Brea. Scientists aren’t exactly sure why they disappeared from the planet, but theories include a shifting climate, overhunting or a combination of both
Professor Philip Seddon agreed that the ‘dire wolf de-extinction is not what it seems’.
‘While no doubt it has required some amazing technological breakthroughs, the cute pups Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi are not dire wolfs – they are genetically modified grey wolves,’ he said.
‘What Colossal has done is to introduce a small number of changes to the genetic material of a grey wolf to produce grey wolf pups with dire wolf features such as pale coats and potentially slightly larger size – so, hybrid grey wolves, or a GMO wolf.’
Colossal Biosciences made headlines last month when it created a ‘woolly mouse’ by engineering rodents to grow thick, warm coats using mammoth DNA.
However, the company’s ultimate goal is bringing the woolly mammoth back from the dead, which it plans on reviving by late 2028.
CEO and co-founder Ben Lamm said he’s ‘positive’ the first woolly mammoth calves will be born in the next few years.
‘Our recent successes in creating the technologies necessary for our end-to-end de-extinction toolkit have been met with enthusiasm by the investor community,’ he said.
But Colossal Biosciences isn’t stopping there – it also wants to bring back the Tasmanian tiger and the dodo, which was hunted to death in the 17th century.
‘The dodo is a prime example of a species that became extinct because we – people – made it impossible for them to survive in their native habitat,’ said Professor Beth Shapiro, lead paleogeneticist at the company.
