{"id":32863,"date":"2025-04-09T05:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T09:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=32863"},"modified":"2025-04-10T09:06:45","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T13:06:45","slug":"welcome-to-pleistocene-park-sort-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/09\/welcome-to-pleistocene-park-sort-of\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to Pleistocene Park.\u00a0 Sort of"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"No Longer Extinct? Colossal Biosciences&#039; Dire Wolf Project\" width=\"783\" height=\"440\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/q6ta3TX2Zgw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As you\u2019ve probably heard the Dire wolves are back!\u00a0\u00a0 \u2026\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Sort of.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7274542\/colossal-dire-wolf\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Colossal Biosciences has sequenced the genetic code of the extinct dire wolf and used it to produce living animals<\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2026\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Sorta kinda.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cRelying on deft genetic engineering and ancient, preserved DNA, Colossal scientists <\/strong><em><u>(photog\u2019s note:\u00a0 The scientists themselves are normal sized.\u00a0 Only the company name is larger than life.)<\/u><\/em><strong>\u00a0 \u00a0deciphered 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\u2014effectively for the first time de-extincting a line of beasts whose live gene pool long ago vanished.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So they reused the whole genome of the dire wolf to clone these animals?\u00a0 Ah, no.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cIt takes surprisingly few genetic changes to spell the difference between a living species and an extinct one. Like other canids, a wolf has about 19,000 genes. (Humans and mice have about 30,000.) Creating the dire wolves called for making just 20 edits in 14 genes in the common gray wolf\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThe scientists then rewrote the 14 key genes in the cell\u2019s nucleus to match those of the dire wolf; no ancient dire wolf DNA was actually spliced into the gray wolf\u2019s genome.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So they edited 14 genes out of 19,000 and that was all that was necessary to turn a common gray wolf into this long extinct species?\u00a0 In the immortal words of Doc Holliday, \u201cI beg to differ.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But okay I won\u2019t minimize the work that has been done here.\u00a0 This is groundbreaking science and technology.\u00a0 Colossal Biosciences (boy that\u2019s some name) is also working on the Wooly Mammoth project.\u00a0 They\u2019re going to edit the DNA of one of the modern elephants (Indian?) and supposedly resurrect the mammoth.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThe effort to produce a woolly mammoth is on something of a tight schedule.\u00a0\u00a0 \u2026\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Asian elephants\u2014the extinct woolly mammoth\u2019s closest surviving kin\u2014require 22 months, the longest gestation period of any mammal.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>And this genetic transformation will involve even more than the one that created the wolves. \u201cWe were originally talking about editing about 65 genes,\u201d says Lamm. \u201cWe\u2019re now talking about 85 different genes, and some of those will have multiple [functions] like cold tolerance\u2014which includes additional subcutaneous fat layers and their shaggy coat.\u201d As with the dire wolves, no ancient mammoth DNA will be spliced into the elephant\u2019s genome; the elephant genes will simply be rewritten to match the mammoth\u2019s. The company says it has so far edited 25 of those genes, and is \u201con track for our embryos to be ready for implantation by the end of 2026,\u201d to meet its goal of a calf being born in 2028.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>No matter how the resulting woolly baby might look, Colossal admits that in some respects it will be a mammoth in name only. \u201cThey\u2019re elephant surrogates that have some mammoth DNA to make them re-create core characteristics belonging to mammoths,\u201d says Shapiro.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, it\u2019s good that they\u2019re being realistic about what they\u2019re doing.\u00a0 These are the first faltering steps in the path that will lead to a deep understanding of how to restore an extinct species.\u00a0 I think the only way that restored species will occur will involve studying several generations of progressively closer and closer versions of these \u201crestored creatures.\u00a0 Even the fact that these animals are gestated in the wombs of different species must have profound effects on their biology.\u00a0 I\u2019m guessing real \u201cde-extinction\u201d is a hundred years away.\u00a0 I won\u2019t see it happen but I\u2019m excited to see the beginning of it.<\/p>\n<p>Not quite, \u201cWelcome to Jurassic Park.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Update:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Here&#8217;s a video discussing this.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"They Didn&#039;t Make Dire Wolves, They Made Something\u2026Else\" width=\"783\" height=\"440\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ar0zgedLyTw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; As you\u2019ve probably heard the Dire wolves are back!\u00a0\u00a0 \u2026\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Sort of. Colossal Biosciences has sequenced the genetic code of the extinct dire wolf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3545],"tags":[4859,4858,4860],"class_list":["post-32863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-science","tag-de-extinction","tag-extinct-species","tag-genetic-engineering"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Welcome to Pleistocene Park.\u00a0 Sort of - Orion&#039;s Cold Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/09\/welcome-to-pleistocene-park-sort-of\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Welcome to Pleistocene Park.\u00a0 Sort of - Orion&#039;s Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; As you\u2019ve probably heard the Dire wolves are back!\u00a0\u00a0 \u2026\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Sort of. 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