Scientists claim they've resurrected dire wolves 10,000 years after it went extinct — but is it true?

Scientific innovations have reached a new milestone after the de-extinction of the dire wolf species, which has not roamed the surface of Earth for over 10,000 years now. This feat was achieved by Colossal Biosciences, a “de-extinction” or biotechnology company that successfully created three wolf pups, two adolescent males– Romulus, Remus, and one female named Khaleesi. The last name rings a bell? Scientists have paid tribute to a fictional character from the massively popular HBO series, Game of Thrones, per Indy100.

The hit show featured Khaleesi, a.k.a. Daenerys Targaryen, played by Emilia Clarke, and also popularized the existence of dire wolves with its prehistoric and fantastical themes. Drawing from that, the experts might have felt it appropriate to name one of the de-extinct wolf babies as a reference. Colossal Biosciences has been committed to its objective of de-extinction of an array of lost species, including the woolly mammoth that was wiped out thousands of years ago. With impeccable genetic engineering, the company claimed to have reintroduced dire wolves to our planet. On their X handle @colossal, they shared a video of two white wolf pups howling that stormed the internet, sparking debates worldwide earlier this month. 

“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,” the caption announced. Months later, the third pup, a female, was born on 31 January 2025, with the potential of furthering the species on Earth. The company hoped to be transparent about their de-extinction process and explained how they achieved the genetically engineered dire wolves. “The dire wolf has been extinct for over 10,000 years. These two wolves were brought back from extinction using genetic edits derived from a complete dire wolf genome, meticulously reconstructed by Colossal from ancient DNA found in fossils dating back 11,500 and 72,000 years,” the note stated. 

They claimed to be the first company to have utilized CRISPR technology and “revolutionize history” by restoring a lost species. With this, the scientists intend to revamp the dire state of the Earth into a healthier one. The striking video, viewed more than 24.7 million times, featured the two delicate wolf babies howling intensely. Reacting to the scientific breakthrough, people resorted to the comments to express their views and opinions. “Can you bring back Dodo? I miss them!” suggested an X user (@alireznasseh) while another (@MikeEnglund2) asked, “Have you considered opening a park with de-extinct animals?” “You don’t get to override what God and nature have done. Jurassic Park was a warning, not a guidebook,” said a critic (@lizzyscardinal).

“I could not be more proud of the team. This massive milestone is the first of many coming examples demonstrating that our end-to-end de-extinction technology stack works,” said the CEO of Colossal, Ben Lamm. Furthermore, he disclosed that the team extracted DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull for the de-extinction, per BusinessWire. 

Meanwhile, Harvard geneticist and co-founder of Colossal, Dr. George Church, noted, “Another source of ecosystem variety stems from our new technologies to de-extinct lost genes, including deep ancient DNA sequencing, polyphyletic trait analyses, multiplex germline editing, and cloning. The dire wolf is an early example of this, including the largest number of precise genomic edits in a healthy vertebrate so far.” In addition to the dire wolf pups, the biotech company also birthed two litters of red wolves, an endangered animal species today.

You can follow @colossal on X and @itiscolossal on YouTube for more updates.