Dire Wolves Went Extinct. Are They Back?

Cleo Abram • April 10, 2025

Cleo Abram

@cleoabram

About

Video journalist making optimistic tech explainers. Huge If True. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram Twitter: https://twitter.com/cleoabram If you'd like to sponsor a Huge If True episode, reach out at the email below. If you're looking for my bio, here it is: Cleo Abram is a video journalist who produces Huge If True, an optimistic show about science and technology. Huge If True is an antidote to the doom and gloom, helping a wide audience see better futures they can help build. In each episode, Cleo dives deep into one innovation that could shape the future. She has explored humanoid robots at Boston Dynamics, supersonic planes at NASA, quantum computers at IBM, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and more. Previously, Cleo was a video producer at Vox and directed for Explained on Netflix. She was the host of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, as well as co-host of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Video Description

Dire Wolves went extinct. Are they back? Scientists at a company called Colossal Biosciences created these “Dire Wolf” pups using gene editing. They first extracted pieces of ancient Dire Wolf DNA from two fossils, and used that to map out their genomes. Then, they compared that to the DNA of a bunch of different wolves and pinpointed the places that made Dire Wolves unique - like for example the LCORL gene, responsible for their larger size. Then, using the DNA of a close relative, the Gray Wolf, they edited 14 genes that made Dire Wolves unique - and swapped this DNA into an egg that was then fertilized and put into a surrogate dog. The (adorable) pups are larger, more muscular and have white coats and this unique howl... The big hope is to one day restore some of the world’s lost biodiversity. This company also created the “woolly mouse” and plans to make more species as well. We have an INCREDIBLE story coming about gene editing, so subscribe! #short #direworlf #wolf #geneediting #animals #science #stem