Has the dire wolf returned?
The attempt to recreate the extinct dire wolf has made news recently. It was announced in April by Colossal Biosciences Inc. that these large carnivores, which have been extinct for some 12,000 years and preyed on species like mammoths, have been re-created using grey wolves in a process called de-extinction.
In their review, the IUCN Canid Specialist Group agreed that it is a significant scientific breakthrough. However, they raised concerns as to whether it could really be called a dire wolf and also about the far-reaching implications for the conservation of threatened species.
Their review noted that the three re-created pups are not dire wolves because thousands of genes make the dire wolf and grey wolf genetically different and gene editing was done on only a handful of genes of the grey wolf genome.
More importantly, they commented that while gene editing may go on to become part of a conservation toolkit by helping specific problems, such as increasing genetic diversity in small populations, it should not be considered a panacea for the current biodiversity crisis.
IUCN further stressed that addressing the threats that stem from habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict, disease and limited funding amongst others, remains essential to conserving threatened species and healthy ecosystems.
We couldn’t agree more and while the science is a remarkable and significant achievement, our focus is on saving the living painted wolves from extinction. We would rather see efforts directed toward saving a species that is still with us, instead of trying to bring it back from the dead after it is too late.
