We have made the giant wolves return after 10,000 extinct years. The problem is that they “return” may not be the right word

The colossal company is known for its projects to Disxtinct Animals such as mammoth and dodo. However, the biotechnological company has announced its First success In a very different species: the giant wolf (Aenocyon Dirus) or “terrible wolf.”

A first success. Colossal, the company dedicated to popular biotechnology for its efforts to return extinct species to life, has claimed to have achieved the feat With the giant wolf. Triple. Animals raised by the company are rather hybrid between this species and contemporary wolves, but the work can be a before and after in the efforts for Dextinction of species.

Aenocyon Dirus. The giant wolf is not a wolf itself. This species belongs to the same taxonomic group (Canine) than domestic dogs, wolves, coyotes or jackals. It is estimated that they shared a last common ancestor makes about six million yearsso it can be considered a close relative in relative terms.

This species inhabited the Americas During the late pleistocene. The most recent remains of these animals date from about 13,000 years ago.

Romulo, Remo and Khaleesi. For now there are more doubts than the certainties we have about the process carried out by the American company. Something we do know is that the company has three young that were born in October 2024 and were baptized as Romulo, Remo and Khaleesi.

Parallel processes. According to describes its own companythe recovery process began on two parallel paths. The first departed with obtaining the DNA of the extinct animal, something that was achieved thanks to remains obtained in a skull and a tooth of the extinct animal. In parallel, blood samples were obtained from a gray wolf, after which both DNA had to be sequenced.

From there the processes join through the alignment of the two sequences. Once the available genetic information is combined, it is possible to “filter variants”, that is, to study the differences between the two species depending on their genetics. With this it is possible to edit the genes of the gray wolf, one by one, until it is resembled the giant wolf as much as possible (the team made 20 alterations in 14 genes in this phase).

The final phases are those of the cloning process. Once the alterations have been introduced, a cell nucleus, it is introduced into reproductive cells. In this case, the company resorted not to a wolf but to a common bitch as the belly of the creatures to be born.

The other Colossal plans. The colossal company is a usual on the covers thanks to its perhaps not so crazy plans of Dextinction of species. In your list of species to return from the beyond are The mammoth, The dodo And even the Tasmania tiger.

What is at stake. Disxtinct Species is much more than an altruistic action: genetic information is information and this has an entire economy behind. During the UN conference on the UN biological diversity of 2022, One of the topics to be addressed It was in the digital information about sequences or DSI, the genetic information we compile from nature.

In the genes of plants, animals and unicellular beings are the plans for the synthesization of very different compounds, some of them useful for example for the pharmaceutical industry. Until now, the question about To whom intellectual property belongs In a case like the Dextinction The mammoth was only theoretical. Now the need to clear these doubts becomes more latent than ever.

In Xataka | Mammoth recovery is the flagship of an American company. Now he has just taken an important step

Image | Colossal