Colossal Biosciences, the world’s only de-extinction company, announced that they have brought the Dire Wolf back from extinction with the birth of three Dire Wolves. The three litters of Colossal’s Dire Wolves include two adolescent males (Romulus and Remus) and one female puppy (Khaleesi.)
As Parade Pets reports, in order to birth these three amazingly rare and now de-extinct animals, scientists at Colossal had to extract and sequence DNA from two Dire Wolf Fossils, assemble ancient genomes from both, perform gene editing from their closest living relative (the Grey Wolf) and transfer the embryos to appropriate surrogates. As fascinating (and rather alarming) as the birth of these Dire Wolves is, the information about their surrogate mom dogs is just as wild!
According to Time magazine, who had the cover story on the now no-longer-extinct Dire Wolves, “During their pregnancies, the mama hounds were kept at Colossal’s animal-care facility, where they were regularly monitored and given weekly ultrasounds by staff scientists and veterinarians. All three wolves were born by planned cesarean section to minimize the risk of birthing complications.”
As the New Yorker reports, “The team had hoped for vaginal births, James said, but as the weeks went on “there was a concern that there would be a size mismatch”—that the dire-wolf babies could be too big.” A four-person team performed the surgery and lifted out the pups; four more attendants cleaned and swaddled the newborns while the surgical team looked after the mother as she emerged from anesthesia.
Time magazine continued, ““We elected to put both pups with the surrogate who was displaying the best maternal instincts,” says James. “That reintroduction occurred just about two or so hours after birth, and she immediately began caring for them and allowing them to nurse.” The pups fed from the surrogate for just a few days, after which the Colossal team removed them and bottle-fed them because the surrogate was actually becoming too attentive—disrupting the pups’ regular sleeping and feeding schedules. “
So, what happened to the surrogate dog moms? Well, as the New Yorker reports, “The two mutts were soon adopted by families, through the American Humane Society, without any mention of their role in lupine history.” A very happy ending for those dog foster moms! Can you imagine adopting a dog from the Humane Society and having no idea it was used as a Dire Wolf surrogate?
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Photo Credit: Holly Kuchera / Shutterstock.com