Now That Dire Wolfs Are Back, Michigan Professor Is Helping To Save The Red Wolf

Recently, human beings accomplished one of the greatest feats they have ever accomplished, with the help of Colossal Biosciences. The dire wolf, which has been extinct for over 10,000 years, was a species that fascinated scientists, so much so that, as unbelievable as it may seem, two dire wolves have been brought back from extinction.

Their names are Romulus and Remus, and already six months old, they are already 4 feet long and are over 80 pounds, which could ultimately see them grow to 6 feet and over 150 pounds. But how did scientists accomplish this?

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Time magazine recently covered how Colossal was able to accomplish this unbelievable feat.

Relying on deft genetic engineering and ancient, preserved DNA, Colossal scientists deciphered the dire wolf genome, rewrote the genetic code of the common gray wolf to match it, and, using domestic dogs as surrogate mothers, brought Romulus, Remus, and their sister, 2-month-old Khaleesi, into the world during three separate births last fall and this winter—effectively for the first time de-extincting a line of beasts whose live gene pool long ago vanished.

Saving A Current Species

Not only are scientists hard at work to bring back extinct species, but saving ones that exist today. Recently, Colossal cloned 4 red wolves, which was crucial as the species suffers from what they call a “genetic bottleneck,” a lack of diversity in the genome that can lead to infertility and inherited birth defects.

What is needed is a way to refresh the gene line with new DNA, and science may have a way.

Along with Bridgett von Holdt, a Colossal scientific adviser and an associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University, they touch on how a Michigan Professor is helping to save the Red Wolf:

Kristin Brzeski, an associate professor of wildlife science and conservation at Michigan Tech, discovered populations of canids along the coasts of Louisiana and Texas whose DNA included both coyote genes and red wolf ghost alleles. The four red wolves the Colossal scientists created used that natural genetic reservoir to produce what they call the first Ghost Wolf, with an eye to eventually fortifying the red wolf species with more such young carrying a variety of genes.

With the advances in science, what other creatures, OTHER THAN DINOSAURS, would you like to see come back?