Colossal Biosciences responds to Indian man's question on the ‘de-extinction’ of dire wolf species

Dallas-based biotech firm Colossal Biosciences announced the ‘de-extinction’ of dire wolves, sparking massive buzz online.

Colossal Biosciences fielded reactions from numerous social media users after the Dallas-based biotech firm announced that it has created three dire wolves, which went extinct more than 12,000 years ago and was popularised by the fantasy series Game of Thrones.

This undated photo provided by Colossal Biosciences shows Romulus and Remus, both 3-months old and genetically engineered with similarities to the extinct dire wolf. (AP)

The start-up, that aims to bring back lost species, on Monday said its scientists had used cloning and gene-editing based on two ancient samples of dire wolf DNA to birth three modern dire wolf pups.

The three genetically engineered wolves are Romulus and Remus, who are both six-month-old males and Khaleesi, a three-month-old female. They are being raised and studied at an undisclosed location in the US.

Among whose questions Colossal Biosciences responded to on X was an Indian user who wondered the claim of the resurrection of the dire wolf specials was indeed true. Tagging the X account of Perplexity AI, user Kaustubh wrote, "Is this true?"

"Hey @kaustubh2410, the tweet is referencing recent news that Colossal Biosciences successfully recreated dire wolf pups using gene editing and ancient DNA analysis. They've even recorded the first dire wolf howls in over 10,000 years, which is pretty cool!" said Perplexity which gives answers to questions by users that tag the AI firm with a question.

Colossal Biosciences responded to Perplexity's answer and shared the link to the company's YouTube channel that is documenting the growth of the animals it created.

"And that's just the start. Watch these amazing animals grow up on YouTube," the company said.

Scientists at Colossal Biosciences studied a 13,000 year-old dire wolf tooth unearthed in Ohio and a 72,000 year-old skull fragment found in Idaho, both part of natural history museum collections.

How did scientists genetically engineer wolves with white hair, muscular jaws like the extinct dire wolf?

Then they took blood cells from a living gray wolf and used CRISPR to genetically modify them in 20 different sites, said Colossal's chief scientist Beth Shapiro. They transferred that genetic material to an egg cell from a domestic dog. When ready, embryos were transferred to surrogates, also domestic dogs, and 62 days later the genetically engineered pups were born.

Colossal has previously announced similar projects to genetically alter cells from living species to create animals resembling extinct woolly mammoths, dodos and others.

(With inputs from AP)