Wolf extinct for 10,000 years brought back to life, researchers claim

A group of scientists claims to have brought back to life a species of wolf that went extinct more than 10,000 years ago – but is it true?

Here’s all we know about the three pups created by Colossal Biosciences, a genetic engineering company which claims to have “de-extincted” the dire wolf.

What does Colossal say?

On Monday, Colossal posted a clip showing two of the pups, named Romulus and Remus (after the mythical founders of Rome who, as legend has it, were brought up by a wolf), howling.

“Sound on”, the enthusiastic post on X reads. “You’re hearing the first howl of a dire wolf in over 10,000 years.

“Meet Romulus and Remus-the world’s first de-extinct animals, born on October 1, 2024.”

Another pup, named Khaleesi after the character in Game of Thrones, was born on 31 January this year.

Colossal are the same company that created woolly mice in their quest to revive the woolly mammoth, and their goal is to fix extinction by “combining the science of genetics with the business of discovery”.

In the X post, Colossal explained how the pups were “brought back from extinction” using genetic edits which came from a complete dire wolf genome which was “meticulously reconstructed” from ancient…