The dire wolf was long thought to be an extinct creature, remembered only through fossils and fictional stories. But thanks to a groundbreaking scientific breakthrough, this legendary predator is now back in the real world. Colossal Biosciences, a Texas-based genetic engineering company, used cutting-edge techniques to revive the extinct species. The result? Three adorable wolf pups named Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi, a nod to the Game of Thrones series that helped cement the dire wolf’s mythical status.
To create the three dire wolf pups, scientists in Texas first had to recover ancient DNA from two fossils. One was a 13,000-year-old tooth found in Ohio, and the other was a 72,000-year-old inner ear bone from Idaho. The DNA was then inserted into dog egg cells, which were implanted into a surrogate dog mother. The pregnancy was successful, and the three pups were born in January.
Two of the dire wolf pups, Romulus and Remus, are male, while Khaleesi is female. All three are now being cared for inside a 2,000-acre ecological preserve. To make sure the pups are well looked after, the Texas scientists have assigned a team of 10 full-time staff members to meet all their needs.
Before this experiment, dire wolves only existed in fiction, like in Game of Thrones. Even though they often show up in fantasy stories, dire wolves were a real species that once roamed the ancient world over ten thousand years ago. Sadly, they went extinct after early humans hunted them until none were left alive.
Along with announcing the breakthrough, the Texas scientists also shared a video featuring the three adorable dire wolf pups. In the clip, you can see them trying their best to howl. Each of them has a pure white coat that makes them look extra fluffy and soft. A longer version of the video shows the pups being bottle-fed, and by the end, viewers get a glimpse of the wolves all grown up, running freely through their ecological preserve.
Cuteness Overload
Seeing such adorable creatures has definitely put people in a good mood. Many Redditors couldn’t stop gushing over the cuteness of the dire wolf pups. Others took the chance to reference Game of Thrones, with one commenter joking, “Now we give them to the Stark children…”
Not everyone is thrilled, though. Some people questioned whether these pups should even be called dire wolves. “These aren’t dire wolves. They are genetically modified gray wolves and don’t actually contain material from dire wolf genomes. Dire wolves don’t even belong to the same genus and are evolutionarily distinct,” one Redditor argued.
Still, others came to the defense of the Texas scientists. “Everyone that is downplaying the achievement with the ‘only 14 genes’ is missing the mark. You could hypothetically create a cure for cancer by modifying ‘only 14 genes’ of an immune cell. It’s not really about the wolf puppies. It’s about what we could potentially do with this technology,” another user explained.
