Winter is Coming:The Return of the Dire Wolf

The Return of the Dire Wolf

WRITTEN BY CHELSEA SALERNO, Staff Writer

Those of us who watched Game of Thrones are familiar with the dire wolves of Westeros: a larger, more intelligent relative of the wolf that represents the House of Stark’s resilience and connection to the north. But did you know the dire wolves in the fantasy series were based on a now-extinct animal? The real dire wolves were an ancient species of wolves native to the Americas 125,000 years ago. Though not as large as the dire wolves depicted in George R. R. Martin’s famed series, the real dire wolves were still up to 25% bigger, stronger and faster than the modern wolf. These majestic canines have been extinct for 10,000 years thanks, in large part, to humans over-hunting their prey, but they have recently been in the spotlight for being the first species to undergo de-extinction. That’s right! After 10,000 years, the dire wolf howls on this continent again.

Sounds Jurassic Park-esque, right? Essentially, it is. Scientists have used preserved DNA from fossils to rewrite the genetic code of the common grey wolf to match that of the dire wolf and, through careful genetic engineering, have managed to use domestic dogs as surrogate mothers. The result? Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi entered the world during three separate birth events last year. This is the first time that humans have managed to deextinct a line of animals where the gene pool had long ago vanished.

De-extinction is not the same process as cloning, such as the famous case of Dolly the sheep, where a single cell containing the entire genetic code of the animal was extracted and inserted into a donor of the same species, ultimately resulting in an exact duplicate of the animal. Dire wolves have made their comeback through a very advanced technology that took DNA from a 13,000 year-old tooth and a 72,000 year-old skull and created healthy dire wolf puppies through a surrogate. It is a process that, until now, has only been seen in movies, but could potentially bring back other extinct species, such as the Dodo bird, the Tasmanian tiger and the woolly mammoth. In fact, work has already begun on the journey to bring back the woolly mammoth. In early March, the same company that produced the dire wolf pups announced that they have successfully tested their methods in laboratory mice, producing woolly mouse pups that have the same signature shaggy coat. The next step is to have a surrogate pregnancy through an Asian elephant, the mammoth’s closest living relative.

Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi are all thriving on a 2,000-acre ecological preserve kept secret to protect the animals. A 24/7 veterinary staff monitors them through an onsite veterinary clinic; their environment also includes an extreme weather shelter and several natural dens. They are solitary creatures, uninterested in human contact, and scientists intend to keep them this way to ensure they maintain the integrity of the original wolf. This groundbreaking work is only the beginning of what de-extinction can do, and the journey of rebuilding species that have been long lost has just begun! ■