Scientists just "de-extincted" the dire wolf. Which species should be revived next?
In April 2025, Colossal Biosciences announced the birth of three gray wolf pups genetically edited (20 edits across 14 genes) using ancient DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull to resemble dire wolves, which went extinct about 12,500 years ago. Critics argue this is really just a modified gray wolf, not a true resurrection, since dire wolves are genetically quite distant relatives. Colossal is also chasing the woolly mammoth, the dodo, and the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), backed by billions in funding. If you could pick one extinct species to bring back with this technology, which one would you choose, and why?
🏆 Leading: Woolly MammothColossal Biosciences is genetically engineering Asian elephants — their closest living relative — to express mammoth traits like dense fur, thick fat layers, and small ears suited to Arctic cold, using ancient DNA recovered from frozen specimens. The company aims to birth the first calves by 2028 and eventually rewild herds across Siberian tundra, arguing mammoths once trampled trees and compacted snow in ways that kept permafrost frozen, slowing carbon release. Critics counter that the result is really a cold-adapted elephant hybrid, not a true mammoth, and question whether Arctic ecosystems and elephant surrogate mothers are ready for the experiment. (33%)
🥈 DodoThe dodo has become de-extinction's most symbolic target: a flightless pigeon relative wiped out within decades of sailors reaching Mauritius in the 1600s, purely through hunting and introduced predators. Colossal Biosciences has sequenced dodo DNA from museum specimens and is using the Nicobar pigeon, its nearest living relative, to identify the genetic differences worth engineering back in. Because bird embryos develop inside hard-shelled eggs, scientists can't clone them like mammals — instead they plan to edit primordial germ cells and transplant them into surrogate birds. Success would let Mauritius reintroduce a living dodo to forests it vanished from centuries ago. (33%)
🥉 Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger)The thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, was the largest carnivorous marsupial of modern times until the last known individual died in Hobart Zoo in 1936, decades after bounty hunting for allegedly killing livestock drove the species to collapse. Colossal Biosciences and University of Melbourne researchers are using the fat-tailed dunnart, a mouse-sized marsupial, as a genetic template, guided by an unusually well-preserved thylacine genome extracted from a juvenile specimen kept in ethanol. Because marsupials give birth to tiny, underdeveloped young that finish growing in a pouch, some scientists argue thylacine revival is technically more feasible than mammoth or dodo projects, though still years away. (33%)🌍 🇨🇳 China
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Scientists have genetically engineered wolves with white hair like the extinct dire wolf. What other animals do you expect scientists to bring back from extinction? It’s actually quite important we don’t go around telling people that dire wolves have been brought back from ext...
IUCN Canid Specialist Group statement on Colossal "Dire Wolves" : r/Paleontology. Skip to main contentIUCN Canid Specialist Group statement on Colossal "Dire Wolves" : r/Paleontology. IUCN Canid Specialist Group statement on Colossal "Dire Wolves". Colossal convinced thousands...
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