The mythical dire wolf, thought to be extinct and immortalized by Game of Thrones, comes back to us—thanks to advanced science and a visionary biotech dream.
Texas-based Colossal Biosciences made history this week: three dire wolf puppies, born of ancient DNA, gene editing, and cloning.
The two male puppies, Romulus and Remus, and the female, Khaleesi, are the first successful revivification of the species in over 10,000 years.
It’s a massive milestone,” said Colossal CEO Ben Lamm. “Our scientists extracted DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull and bred healthy dire wolf puppies.”.
By employing blood cells from the dire wolf’s closest living relative, the grey wolf, scientists edited 20 signature genes to encode dire wolf traits, then implanted the embryos into domestic dog surrogates.
The result: pups with the thick coats, powerful jaws, and large size of their ancient ancestors.
Colossal’s Chief Science Officer Dr. Beth Shapiro said their process sets a new standard in paleogenome reconstruction—rebuilding ancient genomes without complete reference.
The revived dire wolves will reside in a secure, supervised preserve accredited by the American Humane Society and registered with the USDA.
The project was also sanctified—and funded—by Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin, who proclaimed the achievement “magic brought to life.”.
In a further conservation boost, Colossal also reported it successfully cloned four red wolves to contribute to genetic diversity in the critically endangered population of the southeastern United States.
With this success, the gap between science fiction and fact just narrowed significantly—and the dire wolf stalks among us once more.
