The first time one hears that scientists have brought back the dire wolf can be a little surreal.
At this point,Jurassic Parkcomparisons start appearing passe.
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Why the Dire Wolf?
Nor for that matter was the current plight of the red wolf.
When youre an American company, your first animal should be solely [American].
He also began telling Lamm about something Indigenous people call the great wolf.
He said it was a much larger wolf, it was a stronger wolf, it was white.
They talked about how theyve been working for 40 years and are just not really making progress.
It dawned on me that the most endangered wolf in the world is this American wolf, Lamm says.
And youre telling me that we cant save our own wolf?
This is super sci-fi-ish, Lamm prefaces, but we had petri dishes growing mammoth hair organoids.
In this way, the woolly mouse was intended to be a proof of concept for the companys aspirations.
Says Lamm, Eighteen months for something thats been gone for 12,000 years.
Yet already, these white-haired creatures are taller than the gray wolf.
Soon the dire wolves will be heavier too.
They are insanely strong, says Lamm.
Theyre already 80 pounds.
Some people even say they look like little ponies at this stage.
So we do believe dire wolves were all white.
Other features, however, could be learned only by birthing Romulus and Remus and watching them grow.
Most striking of all, though, might be the white mane that the fossil records could never reveal.
We didnt know that they had that, Lamm notes.
For starters, it is impossible to directly clone an extinct species.
You need a living cell.
Still, Lamm acknowledges there are traits well never be absolutely certain on.
For instance, the vocalizations of his dire wolves.
Is it exactly the same vocalization as it was 10,000 years ago?
We have no way of knowing what percentage of thats learned behavior versus what percentage of thats normal.
More impressive is how these techniques have innovated cloning technology.
In the meantime, no single dire wolf in Colossals first crop would stand out over another.
They are brothers, so we thought that the mythology made a lot of sense.
We thought of them as being a form of ancient wisdom and protectors.
Which might echo the most impressive implications of this new Romulus and Remus.
He later adds, Well make all of our technologies available for free for conservation.
Its part of our mandate.
Burgum wrote, Its time to fundamentally change how we think about species conservation.
Going forward, we must celebrate removals from the endangered species list not additions.
The only thing wed like to see go extinct is the need for an endangered species list to exist.
They have a good setup right now, says Lamm.
But once again, a lot of people have a say in that.
Thats not our say.
So if people want that, then wed probably pursue that.
But as you know, any rewilding program has to be met with a very thoughtful managed rollout.
For the time being, these wolves still have a 2,000-acre park.
Meanwhile their existence points to a better future for their distant American cousins.
Its just a new tool in our conservation tool belt.
