You will have likely seen in the news recently about the ‘de-extinction of the dire wolf’, a canid species which went extinct over ten thousand years ago. Using gene editing techniques and gray wolves, Colossal Biosciences – a for-profit biotechnology company based in Dallas, Texas – claim to have restored the lost megafauna through the production of three genetically-modified wolf pups. To do this, their scientists edited a literal handful (14) genes based on those loosely identified as ‘under positive selection’ in an ancient dire wolf genome. As expected, there are several technicalities which have not been adequately covered by the resultant media fanfare (e.g., that dire wolves are equally close in evolutionary distance to coyotes, dholes and jackals as they are gray wolves). The associated pre-print (i.e., yet-to-be-peer-reviewed), featuring fantasy-writer-but-not-scientist George R. R. Martin, was published on April 11^th 2025, resulting in more direct scrutiny by the scientific community.

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