For the first time in over 10,000 years, the haunting howl of a dire wolf, which was made famous during the Game of Thrones series, has echoed across the Earth. Thanks to the groundbreaking work of Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas-based genetic engineering company, the once-extinct species has been revived – not in mythology or fiction, but in the flesh. As TIME Magazine revealed in a major story, three dire wolf pups – Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi – are alive and thriving on a private ecological preserve in the United States.
A Howl That Shook the World
The wolves aren’t just impressive for their size – already pushing 80 pounds at six months – but for what they represent: a historic scientific leap and a potentially revolutionary tool for conservation. As Ben Lamm, Colossal’s co-founder and CEO, put it during his appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, “We made three dire wolves.” The reverberation of that statement is almost too big to wrap your head around. For the first time in human history, extinction is not necessarily forever.
Piecing Together the Past to Engineer the Future
The de-extinction process began with two ancient bones: a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old ear bone, also known as the petrous bone – one of the densest in the body, and a surprisingly rich source of ancient DNA. According to Colossal’s DNA extraction expert Sven Bocklandt, this allowed scientists to build a complete genome of the dire wolf, achieving more than 13x coverage – well beyond the 10x threshold typically needed for viable genome sequencing.
A Fascinating Process
That genetic blueprint became the foundation for Colossal’s next step: comparing the dire wolf genome to that of its closest living relative, the gray wolf. From there, the team identified 14 key genes requiring 20 specific edits. These were not minor tweaks; these were the defining traits that made a dire wolf a dire wolf, including size, coat color, skull shape, and even vocalization patterns. “It’s just fascinating,” Lamm told Rogan, “that the behavior characteristics are kind of baked into those genes… dormant for 10,000 years.”
From Cells in a Dish to Pups in the Snow
With the edits made, the Colossal team used a modified version of somatic cell nuclear transfer – the same cloning technique that produced Dolly the sheep in 1996. But instead of extracting tissue, they used blood cells from a gray wolf, a less invasive method that marks a significant innovation in cloning. The edited nuclei were inserted into de-nucleated egg cells, which were then implanted into large hound-mix surrogates.
On October 1, 2024, Romulus and Remus were born via cesarean section. Their sister, Khaleesi, joined them in January 2025. All three are now growing rapidly and exhibiting classic wolf behavior. “They’ve always behaved like wolves,” said Paige McNickle, Colossal’s manager of animal husbandry, in the original TIME video. She added that they don’t show dog-like behavior. They’re cautious, they hide if startled – they’re wild.
No Jurassic Park, Just a New Kind of Nature
Naturally, the comparison to Jurassic Park is hard to avoid. But as Colossal scientists insist, this isn’t Hollywood science – it’s real, and it’s responsible. Darya Tourzani, one of the lead reproductive scientists, explains in Colossal’s own documentary, The Making of the Colossal Dire Wolves, that every step of the process was carefully planned with animal safety at the forefront. “Everyone is thinking very critically about each step so that when that pup is finally born, we know there aren’t any issues.”
And unlike fictional disaster scenarios, these wolves aren’t being turned loose into the wild. Instead, they’re living on a 2,000-acre preserve where they receive round-the-clock veterinary care, protected housing, and carefully curated diets of meat and offal. “They might be the luckiest animals ever,” said Colossal’s Chief Science Officer Beth Shapiro. “They will live their entire life on this protected ecological reserve.”
A Future Beyond the Fence?
While the three dire wolves are not expected to be released into the wild, the long-term question remains: could future generations of engineered wolves one day roam free? “We want to study them for their lives,” said Shapiro in the TIME video, “and understand how these edits might have modified things that we can’t predict.” Already, Romulus and Remus are starting to stalk leaves and respond to sounds with instinctive howls. The genes, it seems, remember.
Yet, as retired National Park Service wolf researcher Rick McIntyre warned, dire wolves were Ice Age specialists. They preyed on megafauna like mammoths and 3,000-lb bison – animals that no longer exist. “Gray wolves are generalists,” McIntyre said. That can generally help them survive, according to him. Specialization like the dire wolf’s… that’s risky.
A Genetic Toolkit for Conservation
Colossal’s goals extend far beyond resurrecting extinct species. “We’re not just bringing them back for the novelty,” Lamm emphasized on Joe Rogan’s podcast. “The same technologies we’re using can help prevent today’s endangered species from disappearing forever.” Already, Colossal has cloned four red wolves using the lessons learned from the dire wolf project.
The red wolf – once common across the U.S. Southeast – is critically endangered today, with fewer than 20 remaining in the wild. Colossal’s cloning effort, aided by genetic analysis of “ghost alleles” from canid populations in Louisiana and Texas, could help reintroduce genetic diversity to the population and stave off extinction.
Bioethics and the Burden of Playing God
Of course, not everyone is cheering. “There are a lot of unintended consequences,” said Dr. Robert Klitzman, director of Columbia University’s bioethics master’s program, during his interview with TIME. “One gene can affect many traits. We may create animals with serious medical problems. There’s suffering involved.”
And there’s no shortage of historical warnings. From cane toads to Burmese pythons, invasive species and ecological interference have wreaked havoc on natural systems before. Colossal says it is being cautious, but critics argue that caution may not be enough in the face of such unprecedented power.
Indigenous Collaboration and Cultural Importance
One unique aspect of Colossal’s dire wolf project is its cultural sensitivity. As highlighted by Cristina Mormorunni, an Indigenous Advisory Board member, the dire wolf held deep significance for some Native American tribes. “These animals weren’t just part of the ecosystem; they were part of our stories,” she said in Colossal’s official video. Colossal is currently in discussions with the MHA Nation (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara) about potentially bringing dire wolves to tribal lands in North Dakota.
This cultural bridge-building is rare in high-tech science and could signal a new model for conservation partnerships rooted in respect and mutual benefit.
Engineering the Mammoth, Reviving the Dodo
The dire wolf isn’t Colossal’s only target. The company also has plans to bring back the woolly mammoth by 2028, and efforts are already underway to de-extinct the dodo and thylacine (Tasmanian tiger). The recent birth of a “woolly mouse” – a genetically edited rodent with mammoth traits – offers a glimpse of what might come next.
Unlike the relatively short 65-day gestation of wolves, mammoths (via elephant surrogates) require nearly two years of pregnancy. It’s a daunting task, but Colossal says it has already edited 25 of the 85 required genes and is on track for embryo implantation by 2026.
Commercial Science or Ethical Revolution?
Colossal’s ambitions don’t stop at animals. Its spinoff companies – like Form Bio for computational biology and Breaking for plastic-eating enzymes – show that the technology behind de-extinction could be just as transformative in other fields. As Lamm told TIME, “These genome-engineering technologies alone are worth tens of billions of dollars.”
That raises a fundamental question: is Colossal a conservation powerhouse or a for-profit biotech juggernaut? Maybe it’s both. And maybe that’s not a bad thing.
A World Rewilded, or a Dream Too Dangerous?
There’s no denying the visceral wonder in seeing a dire wolf pup alive and howling after 10,000 years. But wonder and wisdom aren’t always aligned. This is new ground – muddy, magnificent, and full of moral traps. What Colossal is doing is not just science; it’s rewriting the story of life on Earth.
Still, we can’t ignore the central argument put forth by Beth Shapiro and echoed by others in the project: humans caused these extinctions. Maybe we owe it to nature to try to fix it – if not perfectly, then at least better than doing nothing. As Matt James, Colossal’s Chief Animal Officer, said: “What we do today is the hope for the future.”
And for now, that future includes three snowy-white pups learning how to be wolves again.
Ed spent his childhood in the backwoods of Maine, where harsh winters taught him the value of survival skills. With a background in bushcraft and off-grid living, Ed has honed his expertise in fire-making, hunting, and wild foraging. He writes from personal experience, sharing practical tips and hands-on techniques to thrive in any outdoor environment. Whether it’s primitive camping or full-scale survival, Ed’s advice is grounded in real-life challenges.