Is the Dire Wolf really back?
Is the dire wolf back from extinction?
Recently there’s been a big splash in the news about scientists bringing the dire wolf back from extinction! So, in layman’s terms, how did they do this and what exactly does it mean?
What is the dire wolf?
The dire wolf is a large species of wolf that went extinct 12,000 years ago. Here’s some key characteristics of the dire wolf:
Size: dire wolves were larger than modern gray wolves, often weighing between 110-176 pounds (modern gray wolves are usually between 66-176 pounds, depending on where they live).
Strength: dire wolves also had powerful jaws and teeth that could crush bones and were adapted for hunting large prey. They were apex predators (they were at the top of the food chain, with no natural predators), and often hunted bison, horses, and mammoths for food.
Habitat: they roamed across North and South America, living in grasslands, forests, and the mountains.
Most likely they went extinct due to climate change and not having enough food to hunt.
The “dire wolf” pups, image from The Palm Beach Post.
How did scientists bring them back?
First, scientists extracted DNA from dire wolf fossils. Because the DNA is so old, it’s often degraded and poor quality. However, recent advances in gene sequencing and bioinformatics have enabled scientists to reconstruct large portions of the dire wolf’s genome (a genome is the complete set of DNA in an organism).
Next, scientists compared this reconstructed genome with the genome of the modern gray wolf. They identified differences in 14 genes that were responsible for the dire wolf’s distinctive coat color and stronger jaw.
Using genome engineering (a special technology which allows scientists to change a cell’s DNA to turn certain genes on or off), scientists took gray wolf embryos and targeted and changed all 14 of those genes.
These edited embryos were then implanted into surrogate gray wolves, which gave birth to pups that have some dire wolf characteristics.
What does this mean?
So, the question is - did they really bring the dire wolf back? While they have some physical characteristics of dire wolves, such as their white coat, they are really just modified gray wolves. Genetically, more than 99.9% of their genome is still that of gray wolves, not the dire wolf. So, no, scientists haven’t really brought the dire wolf back from extinction. But they have given us some idea of what it might have looked like to see dire wolves in real life!
Now, of course this also raises many ethical questions: How might de-extinction affect the environment (and us!)? What is the future of these “dire wolves”? Are scientists going to try bringing other species back from extinction? As technology continues to advance at a breathtaking speed, these questions are becoming less theoretical and more real.
What species (if any) would you want to see brought back from extinction?
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