Three genetically modified puppies buzz in the United States. The American company Colossal Biosciences claims to have resurrected a species disappeared for more than 10,000 years, “the sinister wolf”. The announcement was made on the company’s website, not without sensationalism: “The 1er October 2024, for the first time in human history, colossal successfully restored a former former species, thanks to the science of de-extinction. ” Three puppies therefore, two males born in October and a female in January, are at the heart of this announcement, reports the online media New Scientist.
Famous by the television series Game of ThronesTHE Canis Dirus (“Saying wolf” in English) is a kind of canids that was distinguished by its impressive size. Called Remus, Romulus and Khaleesi (in tribute to a main character in the television series), the three puppies are not sinister wolves proper. In reality, these are gray wolves whose DNA has been modified to imitate certain physical aspects of the disappeared species. Among the twenty modified genes, five concern the color of the coat and fifteen aim to modify the size, the musculature or the shape of the ears. Can we really talk about resurrection?
Scientifically, the operation raises some questions. A study dating from 2021 shows that the sinister wolf and the gray wolf have evolved separately for six million years. Despite their physical resemblance, the two species are not sisters. The giant wolf is genetically further from the gray wolf than some other canids, such as the African jackal or wild dog.
What if it was just a big wolf?
Beth Shapiro, researcher at Colossal BioSciences, defends the approach at all costs. According to her, if animals resemble the disappeared species, then they can be considered as such. “The concepts of species are human classification systems, everyone may not agree, and everyone can be right”she said.
This rather rigorous way to see things contradicts the concept of phylogenetic species which establishes a species in relation to its evolutionary history. But Beth Shapiro insists: “You can use the concept of phylogenetic species to determine what you will call a species (…) We use the concept of morphological species and we say, if they look like this animal, then they are this animal.”
The three cubs are currently raised in a reserve of 800 hectares and the American company takes care of them by watching them closely: “They cannot have a spark without us knowing it”says Beth Shapiro.
Although she considers her project as a success, the company does not plan to let these animals reproduce. These experiments are part of a larger project of “de-extinction” which also includes the recreation of the genome of the Tasmania tiger or woolly mammoths.
