Update On Dogs Who Birthed Extremely Rare Dire Wolf Puppies Is Making People’s Day

Earlier this week, 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.)

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!

Time Magazine, who had the cover story on the now no-longer-extinct Dire Wolves, had this quote about the Dire Wolves moms, “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. 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.”

Related: Rare Puppy Breed with Less Than 9,000 in the World Has Everyone Falling in Love

The article goes on to say, ““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. “

Now, here’s where it gets really wild, 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.”

Can you imagine adopting a dog from the Humane Society and having no idea it was used as a Dire Wolf surrogate?

That’s so ridiculously cool!

The Dire Wolves are now roughly seven months old and live on a preserve in an undisclosed location.

Here’s a longer video that delves into Colossal Biosciences as a company, and it’s just fascinating if you are interested in the projects they are creating and why they are doing so. Plus, it shows some adorable Wooly Mouses which yes, are mice created with some Wooly Mammoth DNA.

Next, the company plans on reviving the Woolly Mammoth, the Dodo and the Tasmanian tiger.

Welcome to Jurassic Park.

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