They Didn't Make Dire Wolves, They Made Something…Else
1. Dire wolves are probably not that closely related to gray wolves, though Colossal says that's not true, they haven't produced anything to back that up.
2. Dire wolf-like animals will never be ecologically important to our current world because they ecosystems they existed inside of do not exist anymore.
3. Collossal's goal isn't de-extinction, is creating new species to fill in niches left behind by extinct species, which is an idea worthy of debate!...
The "de-extinction" of dire-wolves was all over the Internet a few days ago. Something about the story set my BS-meter vibrating... but clearly Colossal Biosciences had done something . So I waited for a source I trust. I trust Hank Green (with brother John, he's one of the "Vlogbrothers" who have been on YouTube since forever.
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Bioscience isn't my gig, but it seems to me that we'd be better off saving the planet we have - that's looking really difficult right now - rather than recreating critters that died off before our ancestors came on the scene.
They do these things because they can. It is an intellectual exercise brought to life.
When I heard about this I thought I missed April Fool's Day. I never heard of this beastie until I read the Games of Thrones books.
It really existed at one time? Why bring it back? It went extinct for a reason.
Exactly. This looks too much like a publicity stunt. As Hank says, Colossal has obviously done some good science... but as you say, it seems pointless.
My guess is they're looking for funding.
I think you hit the nail there when saying they are looking for funding .
they didnt have to prove they could do it because thats been done before .
My opinion is they have NOT brought back a dire wolf , but brought into existence a hybrid , designer genetically modified grey wolf and usurped the name .
that being said , one of the things that would need to happen is to release said creature into the wild , somewhere , and have it reproduce naturally . My question is where , and what ecological niche would it be filling ?
The following is likely off topic so the author can do as they see fit .
a lot of news of wolves and their reintroduction has been reported in the past couple days with colorados efforts , seems a second wolf that colorado paid for from BC has died in wyoming , but there are no details like the first one that was killed in north central wyoming, to some that area is considered to be along the montana border, for killing sheep by a US government agent , not a state agent or civilian hunter . the wolfs collar and carcass was returned to the state of colorado for study and return of the collar . in the second case all colorado got back was their collar .