Earlier this year, Colossal Biosciences claimed to have "de-extincted" the dire wolf. The canid species has been extinct for over 10,000 years and features prominently in George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. Despite breathless headlines proclaiming that the dire wolf was back, scientists immediately objected to the company's characterization.
In an interview with New Scientist, Beth Shapiro, Colossal's chief scientist, admits that the creations are gray wolves.
"It's not possible to bring something back that is identical to a species that used to be alive. Our animals are grey wolves with 20 edits that are cloned," she tells New Scientist. "And we've said that from the very beginning. Colloquially, they're calling them dire wolves and that makes people angry."
Despite Shapiro stating in black and white that the wolves are gray wolves, Colossal insists that calling them dire wolves is legitimate. A spokesman responded to New Scientist:
"In our press release, we stated we made 20 gene edits to grey wolf cells. Grey wolves are the closest living relative to the dire wolves, as we showed in our paper. With those edits, we have brought back the dire wolf. We have been using the concept of functional de-extinction from the beginning, and that is what Colossal achieved. Those are the facts and nothing has changed."
"We have also said that species are ultimately a human construct and that other scientists have a right to disagree and call them whatever they want to call them. Khaleesi, Romulus and Remus are the first dire wolves to walk the Earth in 12,000 years."
Colossal is doing some exciting science that has the potential to save threatened species from extinction. It's a shame that they insist on focusing on misleading PR-speak instead of real science. Meanwhile, the pups Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi live out their lives in captivity as a marketing gimmick.
Previously:
• Dodo to be deëxtincted with genetic engineering
• Cloning extinct animals: A disaster waiting to happen
• The Tasmanian Tiger's been extinct since 1936. Should we bring it back with science?
• Meet the woolly mouse, the first step toward bringing back the woolly mammoth from extinction
