I think it's ethical, but I hate that it's fake<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dire_wolf#DNA_evidence" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dire_wolf#DNA_evidence</a> Look at this caldogram and text<p>> The sequences indicate the dire wolf to be a highly divergent lineage which last shared a most recent common ancestor with the wolf-like canines 5.7 million years ago. The study also measured numerous dire wolf and gray wolf skeletal samples that showed their morphologies to be highly similar, which had led to the theory that the dire wolf and the gray wolf had a close evolutionary relationship. The morphological similarity between dire wolves and gray wolves was concluded to be due to convergent evolution. Members of the wolf-like canines are known to hybridize with each other but the study could find no indication of genetic admixture from the five dire wolf samples with extant North American gray wolves and coyotes nor their common ancestor. This finding indicates that the wolf and coyote lineages evolved in isolation from the dire wolf lineage.<p>There are a lot of extant species that are as closely related as the wolf. Cheating based on phenotype sucks. We want real genetic diversity!<p>Best case, the female wolves they just just made are suitable mothers for the next round of hybrids, so they converge over time.
Here's[0] a recent editorial about Colossal, the company behind this.<p>Basically, they make some flimsy claims about conservation and combating climate change to justify creating a poor imitation of Jurassic Park. Naturally, there's some real moral dilemmas that they gloss over in pursuit of the money a few wealthy people will pay to be able to say "I saw a Mammoth!"<p>[0]: <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/04/editorial-mammoth-de-extinction-is-bad-conservation/" rel="nofollow">https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/04/editorial-mammoth-de...</a>
I'm unsure we want or need a real Dire Wolf, but American Alsatians have been bred for a while: <a href="https://www.marvelousdogs.com/american-alsatian/" rel="nofollow">https://www.marvelousdogs.com/american-alsatian/</a>
Containing fragments doesn't mean this is a dire wolf, or does it? Biological categories like species are fuzzy anyway. There is tremendous variation within each species. But where do you draw a line?<p>It's something that perhaps has more in common with a dire wolf than extant wolves. Maybe it looks like one. Does it act like one? Do we have any way of knowing?
I wish people would focus more on increasing dog lifespans instead of stuff like this. How about a Bernese Mountain Dog that lives 15+ years instead of 7 years.
There is an article about this in Time magazine, no paywall.
<a href="https://time.com/7274542/colossal-dire-wolf/" rel="nofollow">https://time.com/7274542/colossal-dire-wolf/</a>
Paywalled so I have to ask, why the dire wolf? Why not an animal that humans drove to extinction like the dodo bird? Is it because dire wolves sound cool and were in video games?
Meanwhile, we can't even heal sinus infections. Watch the video [0].<p>[0]: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lyz8qS6piQY" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lyz8qS6piQY</a>
> "He explained that I was looking at a plan for a restored ecosystem. It was also a perfectly adapted money machine. There was a large area where the ancient elephants could graze, and this would be funded, in part, by carbon-offset payments from governments and corporations. The carbon value of a single elephant is about two million dollars, he told me. (An elephant increases biodiversity, in part, by spreading seeds in its dung and by crushing dense vegetation on forest floors, giving slow-growing trees the space to survive.) He added that the interesting educational opportunities and “sexiness factor” of Colossal’s creations would make its carbon credits “trade at a premium.”"<p>So it's a startup, valued at 10 billion?!
How exactly do they plan to make money?<p>Seriously, could anything be more 21st-century? Resurrecting extinct animal species (ones that supposedly went extinct naturally, mind you, not because of humans – what's the point then?) just to reintroduce them into parks and sell carbon credits.
This is a marketing gimmick and a frankly fraudulent claim. They edited a few genes in a wolf genome and called it a job well done ready for marketing. However, this is not a true recapitulation of the ancient genome of the dire wolf, rather a crude attempt at it. I’m not impressed.
<i>Subscribe now to witness the rise of the Dire Wolves, step by primal step:</i> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPX4tm-J2bU" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPX4tm-J2bU</a><p>Colossal has just released a 1970s style nature documentary about the Dire Wolf pups (now quite large)
Unrelated. The article uses the word "decimated". It seems to me a lot of people misinterpret the meaning of this word. It does not mean "kill 90%", but "kill on in every 10" aka 10%.
Per the original monster manual, it was never gone. I had to track down a source but it looks accurate. [1]<p>Amazing that pearl clutching over D&D rule changes has now extended to New Yorker magazine.<p>[1] <a href="http://realmsofauria.blogspot.com/2016/02/d-basic-monsters-dire-wolf.html?m=1" rel="nofollow">http://realmsofauria.blogspot.com/2016/02/d-basic-monsters-d...</a><p>.<p>.<p>.<p>/s
Farmer here. The return of the regular wolf has been a tragedy of historic proportions. Wolves slaughter tons of livestock for fun. Farmers are not allowed to protect their herds at all. What will a dire wolf do to livestock if we bring them back? So dumb.
Why does this feel like they’ll eventually get to modifying humans and this is a first step.<p>‘Son, you weren’t an accident, you were custom designed to be smarter than Einstein, faster than Bolt, with musical attitude rivaling Mozart.’<p>Sounds like a dystopian nightmare waiting to happen. Ban it now.
The term "dire" in "direwolf" comes from the Latin word "dirus," which translates to "terrible" or "fearsome." This name reflects the wolf's large size and predatory nature, as well as its status as a formidable hunter during the Pleistocene era.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dire_wolf" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dire_wolf</a>