A groundbreaking scientific feat unfolds in Texas today, April 7, 2025, as Colossal Biosciences announces the rebirth of the dire wolf, a majestic predator extinct for over 12,500 years, using DNA extracted from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old ear bone. The Dallas-based biotech firm, heralded as the world’s first de-extinction company, unveils three thriving pups—Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi—born in late 2024 and early 2025, marking what CEO Ben Lamm calls a “revolutionary milestone” with the potential to reshape conservation and ecology. The dire wolf, immortalized in HBO’s Game of Thrones and championed by the show’s creator George R.R. Martin—an investor and cultural advisor to Colossal—now prowls a 2,000-acre ecological preserve, igniting awe and debate over the future of de-extinction.
The journey begins with ancient remains unearthed in Ohio’s Sheridan Pit and Idaho’s American Falls, where a tooth and ear bone yield the genetic blueprint of a species that once dominated North America’s Pleistocene plains. Colossal’s scientists, leveraging CRISPR gene-editing technology, decode the dire wolf genome and make 20 precise edits across 14 genes in the gray wolf—the dire wolf’s closest living relative, sharing 99.5% of its DNA. These tweaks birth pups with traits lost for millennia: a thick, light-colored coat, larger size (projected at 130-150 pounds), wider heads, powerful jaws, and distinctive howls captured in natural sound recordings released today. “Our team took DNA from fossils and made healthy dire wolf puppies,” Lamm declares in a video statement, likening the achievement to “magic” that could change the world.
The pups—six-month-old males Romulus and Remus, born October 1, 2024, and two-month-old female Khaleesi, born in January 2025—thrive within a fortified preserve certified by the American Humane Society. Surrounded by 10-foot zoo-grade fencing and tended by a dedicated staff of 10, they embody a fusion of ancient lineage and modern science. Domestic dogs serve as surrogate mothers, carrying embryos crafted from edited gray wolf cells, a process Colossal refines after earlier breakthroughs like cloning Dolly the Sheep in 1996. “It’s crazy—it’s exciting,” Lamm tells reporters, noting the project’s 18-month timeline as a testament to rapid technological leaps.
The dire wolf’s return stirs echoes of its storied past. Roaming from Canada to Venezuela 2.6 million years ago, these apex predators hunted megafauna like bison and mastodons alongside saber-toothed cats until climate shifts and prey scarcity drove them to extinction around 10,000-13,000 years ago. Their fossils, notably from California’s La Brea Tar Pits, reveal a beast 25% larger than today’s gray wolves, with adaptations for crushing bone. A 2021 study upends assumptions of close kinship with gray wolves, showing a 6-million-year divergence, yet Colossal bridges this gap, editing traits like musculature and vocalizations to resurrect a “functional copy,” as Chief Science Officer Beth Shapiro describes it.
Cultural resonance amplifies the breakthrough. George R.R. Martin, whose A Song of Ice and Fire series elevates dire wolves as symbols of House Stark, visits the pups and praises the endeavor. “I write about magic, but Ben and Colossal have created magic by bringing these majestic beasts back,” he says, marveling at their real-world revival. Filmmaker Peter Jackson, another investor, loans his $1.49 million Iron Throne prop for a Dallas photo shoot, posing Romulus and Remus atop the iconic seat. The pups’ names—nodding to Roman mythology and Game of Thrones’ Daenerys Targaryen—blend science with fantasy, captivating a global audience.
Beyond spectacle, Colossal ties de-extinction to conservation. Alongside the dire wolves, the firm births four red wolves—Hope, Blaze, Cinder, and Ash—using a novel non-invasive blood cloning technique, aiming to bolster the critically endangered species, down to just 12 in the wild. “We pair every de-extinction with species preservation,” Lamm explains, highlighting plans to fortify ecosystems with genetically diverse wolves. The preserve, potentially on Indigenous land like that of the MHA Nation, aims to restore ecological balance, with tribal leaders like Chairman Mark Fox lauding it as a “reawakening” of ancestral stewardship.
The scientific community buzzes with both acclaim and scrutiny. Harvard geneticist George Church, Colossal’s co-founder, calls it “the largest number of precise genomic edits in a healthy vertebrate,” a proof-of-concept for projects like the woolly mammoth, slated for 2028. Yet skeptics, like some at New Scientist, argue the pups are gray wolves with dire wolf traits, not pure resurrections, given millions of base-pair differences. “They’re not 100% identical, but as close as technology allows,” Lamm counters, promising a forthcoming paper to detail the genome work. Ethicists question reintroducing species to altered habitats, though Colossal insists the wolves remain in captivity for now.
Breaking news electrifies the story. At 12:37 p.m. PDT today, posts on X share the pups’ first recorded yaps, a haunting chorus echoing their ancestors. Colossal’s $10 billion valuation soars with $200 million in new funding, fueling ambitions for the dodo and Tasmanian tiger. Protests over Trump’s tariffs briefly overshadow the announcement, but the wolves reclaim headlines, with Martin dubbing them “an American icon reborn.” Romulus and Remus, now 80 pounds each, and Khaleesi, with her “super thick” coat, embody a fusion of past and future, their howls a call to rethink extinction’s finality.
The dire wolf’s revival ripples beyond Dallas. Conservationists eye its tech for rhinos and snow leopards, while critics ponder ecological risks. For now, the pups grow under watchful eyes, their existence a testament to human ingenuity—and a question of what’s next. “This is just the first of many milestones,” Lamm vows, as the world marvels at a species lost, then found.
Sources:
- Video: https://youtu.be/q6ta3TX2Zgw (Colossal Biosciences announcement)
- Video: https://youtu.be/Lyz8qS6piQY (Dire wolf pups footage)
- Video: https://youtu.be/F5uCuOwK_VE (Additional context on de-extinction)
- Web sources: time.com, nytimes.com, newyorker.com, businesswire.com, usatoday.com, hollywoodreporter.com, nationalworld.com, bloomberg.com, statesman.com, complex.com, thedebrief.org, colossal.com, scientificamerican.com, axios.com
- Posts on X reflecting public sentiment and breaking updates
- General knowledge of dire wolf history and genetic engineering advancements
