Michael Crichton (1942—2008) was a successful novelist and screenwriter; his 29 novels sold more than 200 million copies, and more than a dozen have been made into motion pictures. Although Crichton graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1969, he never practiced medicine, concentrating instead on a creative career that went from success to success.
Crichton’s most memorable creation was “Jurassic Park,” in which a group of scientists brought dinosaurs back from extinction by recovering ancient DNA and splicing it into the DNA of living creatures. Steven Spielberg made the 1990 novel into a hit movie in 1993, and the franchise has spawned seven pictures so far, with the seventh—Jurassic World: Rebirth—to premier later this year.
What made the book and the movie work so well was that the premise seemed plausible. The instructions for building each living creature are contained in its DNA, and if the ancient DNA could be found and isolated, wouldn’t re-animating an extinct species be just a series of technical problems to be solved?
The dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus), was a massive carnivore that lived during the late Pleistocene and early modern eras. It weighed up to 200 lbs., and was about 25% larger than the biggest modern wolf species (Canis lupus). The dire wolf’s shoulder height was more than three feet, and it was almost six feet in length. It was one of many ice age fauna that, for reasons not fully understood, were larger than modern exemplars. They are called mega-fauna, and many of them went extinct at the end of the Ice Age.
Including the Dire Wolf. . . .
until six months ago, that is.
A story published today in Time Magazine reports that scientists employed by Colossal Biosciences have brought the dire wolf back from extinction.
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.
Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas-based company founded in 2021 and currently employing 130 scientists, also wants to “de-extinct” the woolly mammoth, the dodo bird, and the Tasmanian tiger. It has copied mammoth DNA to create a woolly mouse, a chimera with the long, golden coat and the accelerated fat metabolism of the mammoth.
Where did they get the dire wolf DNA? From two ancient samples—one a 13,000-year-old tooth found in Sheridan Pit, Ohio, the other a 72,000-year-old ear bone unearthed in American Falls, Idaho. (Those are conventional dates—I would say that both samples are around 3,500 to 4,500 years old).
The scientists examined the ancient DNA to find 14 key genes (out of 19,000) that created the “dire wolf” phenotype of a white coat, larger size, more powerful shoulders, wider head, larger teeth and jaws, more-muscular legs, and characteristic vocalizations such as the howling and whining. But no actual dire wolf DNA was used in the process.
Instead, the scientists harvested endothelial progenitor cells from a Grey Wolf, and re-wrote the 14 key genes in the cell nucleus to match those of the dire wolf DNA. The edited nucleus was then transferred into a denucleated egg, which was then inserted in a female hound (a technology dating back to “Dolly” the sheep) selected based upon good health and large size. The hounds gave birth to “Romulus” and “Remus,” the first dire wolves to roam this earth in thousands of years.
Since their births, the dire wolves have lived on a 2,000-acre ecological preserve at a location Colossal keeps secret to protect the animals. There is a smaller six-acre site with a veterinary clinic, an extreme-weather shelter, and natural dens where the wolves can satisfy their innate desire for a secure retreat. A staff of veterinarians looks out for the animals around the clock.
As you might imagine, some of the commentary on social media has been brutal:
There is a whole movie franchise about why doing this is not a good idea
Guys, we already know how this plays out, [but] as long as we don’t make a theme park on a Costa Rican island I guess it will be okay.
That is not a dire wolf, this is so deceptive. Real dire wolves were canids but no more closely related to wolves than they were to foxes. These people spent 10 billion dollars to make a gray wolf look more thick and behave the way they believe dire wolves would have behaved.
The world has changed drastically since then: different climate, plants, animals, even bacteria. That species wouldn’t recognize its old home, and we have no idea how it might interact with today’s ecosystems — it could become invasive, out-compete current species, or introduce unknown diseases. We have no idea about its complex inter-dependencies within its environment.
The negative comments on social media sound so familiar; where have I heard them before? Oh, yes, from Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum)’s speech in the original “Jurassic Park” movie:
Here we are dealing with the same issues in real life that Michael Crichton was dealing with in theory 35 years ago.
One of the reasons we know we are living in the last days is that Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man.” Mat. 24:37. And in the days of Noah, the antediluvians, with their highly advanced intellects, had discovered genetic engineering and had created a class of animals which God did not create. These animals, including the dinosaurs, were destroyed in the Flood:
“The confused species which God did not create, which were the result of amalgamation, were destroyed by the flood.” —Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 3, p.75, 1864.
“Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new"? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.” Eccl. 1:10
