After 10,000 years, Dire Wolf brought back from extinction

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The Return of the Dire Wolf​



"Romulus and Remus are doing what puppies do: chasing, tussling, nipping, nuzzling. But there’s something very un-puppylike about the snowy white 6-month olds—their size, for starters. At their young age they already measure nearly 4 ft. long, tip the scales at 80 lb., and could grow to 6 ft. and 150 lb. Then there’s their behavior: the angelic exuberance puppies exhibit in the presence of humans—trotting up for hugs, belly rubs, kisses—is completely absent. They keep their distance, retreating if a person approaches. Even one of the handlers who raised them from birth can get only so close before Romulus and Remus flinch and retreat. This isn’t domestic canine behavior, this is wild lupine behavior: the pups are wolves.

Not only that, they’re dire wolves—which means they have cause to be lonely.

The dire wolf once roamed an American range that extended as far south as Venezuela and as far north as Canada, but not a single one has been seen in over 10,000 years, when the species went extinct. ..."


Well There It Is Jurassic Park GIF
 

The Return of the Dire Wolf​



"Romulus and Remus are doing what puppies do: chasing, tussling, nipping, nuzzling. But there’s something very un-puppylike about the snowy white 6-month olds—their size, for starters. At their young age they already measure nearly 4 ft. long, tip the scales at 80 lb., and could grow to 6 ft. and 150 lb. Then there’s their behavior: the angelic exuberance puppies exhibit in the presence of humans—trotting up for hugs, belly rubs, kisses—is completely absent. They keep their distance, retreating if a person approaches. Even one of the handlers who raised them from birth can get only so close before Romulus and Remus flinch and retreat. This isn’t domestic canine behavior, this is wild lupine behavior: the pups are wolves.

Not only that, they’re dire wolves—which means they have cause to be lonely.

The dire wolf once roamed an American range that extended as far south as Venezuela and as far north as Canada, but not a single one has been seen in over 10,000 years, when the species went extinct. ..."


Well There It Is Jurassic Park GIF
"...Plenty of dire wolf remains have been discovered across the Americas, however, and that presented an opportunity for a company named Colossal Biosciences.

Relying on deft genetic engineering and ancient, preserved DNA, Colossal scientists deciphered the dire wolf genome, rewrote the genetic code of the common gray wolf to match it, and, using domestic dogs as surrogate mothers, brought Romulus, Remus, and their sister, 2-month-old Khaleesi, into the world during three separate births last fall and this winter—effectively for the first time de-extincting a line of beasts whose live gene pool long ago vanished. TIME met the males (Khaleesi was not present due to her young age) at a fenced field in a U.S. wildlife facility on March 24, on the condition that their location remain a secret to protect the animals from prying eyes.

The dire wolf isn’t the only animal that Colossal, which was founded in 2021 and currently employs 130 scientists, wants to bring back. Also on their de-extinction wish list is the woolly mammoth, the dodo, and the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger. Already, in March, the company surprised the science community with the news that it had copied mammoth DNA to create a woolly mouse, a chimeric critter with the long, golden coat and the accelerated fat metabolism of the mammoth.

If all this seems to smack of a P.T. Barnum, the company has a reply. Colossal claims that the same techniques it uses to summon back species from the dead could prevent existing but endangered animals from slipping into extinction themselves. What they learn restoring the mammoth, they say, could help them engineer more robust elephants that can better survive the climatic ravages of a warming world. Bring back the thylacine and you might help preserve the related marsupial known as the quoll. Techniques learned restoring the dire wolf can similarly be used to support the endangered red wolf. ..."
 
"...Plenty of dire wolf remains have been discovered across the Americas, however, and that presented an opportunity for a company named Colossal Biosciences.

Relying on deft genetic engineering and ancient, preserved DNA, Colossal scientists deciphered the dire wolf genome, rewrote the genetic code of the common gray wolf to match it, and, using domestic dogs as surrogate mothers, brought Romulus, Remus, and their sister, 2-month-old Khaleesi, into the world during three separate births last fall and this winter—effectively for the first time de-extincting a line of beasts whose live gene pool long ago vanished. TIME met the males (Khaleesi was not present due to her young age) at a fenced field in a U.S. wildlife facility on March 24, on the condition that their location remain a secret to protect the animals from prying eyes.

The dire wolf isn’t the only animal that Colossal, which was founded in 2021 and currently employs 130 scientists, wants to bring back. Also on their de-extinction wish list is the woolly mammoth, the dodo, and the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger. Already, in March, the company surprised the science community with the news that it had copied mammoth DNA to create a woolly mouse, a chimeric critter with the long, golden coat and the accelerated fat metabolism of the mammoth.

If all this seems to smack of a P.T. Barnum, the company has a reply. Colossal claims that the same techniques it uses to summon back species from the dead could prevent existing but endangered animals from slipping into extinction themselves. What they learn restoring the mammoth, they say, could help them engineer more robust elephants that can better survive the climatic ravages of a warming world. Bring back the thylacine and you might help preserve the related marsupial known as the quoll. Techniques learned restoring the dire wolf can similarly be used to support the endangered red wolf. ..."
Nice naming.
 
Reminds me of this fine news article ...

 
we waste the most goddamn money in this country on the stupidest shit while we still use toxic chemotherapies to treat cancers that we are all prob gonna be affected by one day. fucking childrens hospitals are full of kids with cancers and we waste huge $$$ and time on stupid shit like this. what a goddamn ignorant society we live in.
 
we waste the most goddamn money in this country on the stupidest shit while we still use toxic chemotherapies to treat cancers that we are all prob gonna be affected by one day. fucking childrens hospitals are full of kids with cancers and we waste huge $$$ and time on stupid shit like this. what a goddamn ignorant society we live in.
To be fair, the improvement in treatment of most cancers has been sort of astonishing over the last 30 years. But I do find this to be something that should be regulated and subject to an ethics board review, not just a secretive startup.
 
we waste the most goddamn money in this country on the stupidest shit while we still use toxic chemotherapies to treat cancers that we are all prob gonna be affected by one day. fucking childrens hospitals are full of kids with cancers and we waste huge $$$ and time on stupid shit like this. what a goddamn ignorant society we live in.
You know that's how chemo works. It was originally developed from the same chemicals as mustard gas used in WWI. It attacked the faster dividing cells first, which was generally cancer. The whole idea is to try to poison the cancer faster than the patient. They work on newer ones all the time but that basic principle is how it works. Cisplatin, which is an older one, is what they used on me. Fwiw, because of keeping a consistent protocol based on the five year survival rate, it's hard to compare the effectiveness of new treatment until they are at least that old.

I used to play bridge against Dr. Monroe Wall who helped develop taxol for breast cancer treatment out at RTP.
 
To be fair, the improvement in treatment of most cancers has been sort of astonishing over the last 30 years. But I do find this to be something that should be regulated and subject to an ethics board review, not just a secretive startup.
i disagree 1000% re cancer.....far from astonishing. to each their own
 
You know that's how chemo works. It was originally developed from the same chemicals as mustard gas used in WWI. It attacked the faster dividing cells first, which was generally cancer. The whole idea is to try to poison the cancer faster than the patient. They work on newer ones all the time but that basic principle is how it works. Cisplatin, which is an older one, is what they used on me. Fwiw, because of keeping a consistent protocol based on the five year survival rate, it's hard to compare the effectiveness of new treatment until they are at least that old.

I used to play bridge against Dr. Monroe Wall who helped develop taxol for breast cancer treatment out at RTP.
i know exactly how that poison works, hoss. its barbaric, but you know what they say theres lots more money in treatments than cures. most healthcare is about profit not healthcare. the love of money is the root of all evil
 
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