Trans and dire

 

- Are you assuming my species, human ape?

So the "de-extincted Dire Wolves" are really Grey Wolves who identify as Dire Wolves? Got it.   

Designer wolf

 

The Dire Wolf non-mystery un-thickens. Judging by this piece at the Live Science website, the "de-extincted Dire Wolves" aren´t even hybrids between Grey Wolves and Dire Wolves (Dire Wolf DNA has supposedly been extracted from ancient bones). Nor are they Grey Wolves with some Dire Wolf DNA inserted into their genomes. No, they are 100% Grey Wolves which has been designed to look like Dire Wolves by some "native" alterations to the Grey Wolf DNA?!

One thing that struck me was that the "de-extincted Dire Wolves" are all-white. But how do we know whether Dire Wolves (who disappeared 10,000 years ago) had white fur? I don´t think we do. So why are the animals white, then? Obviously because one of the fictitious "Dire Wolves" in the fantasy series "Game of Thrones" was white. One of the "de-extincted Dire Wolves" is even named after a rather notorious character in that show!

In other words, we are dealing with a kind of designer wolves (compare designer dogs). Could there be a market for these kinds of animals? Probably yes, but a resurrected "Aenocyon dirus" from prehistory it is not.      

Colossal´s "dire wolf" isn´t a dire wolf, experts say

Romulus and Remus

 

Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi are three dire wolves brought back from extinction by some crazy American start up. Or maybe not. It seems the "dire wolves" are really grey wolves genetically modified to look like the legendary extinct species (which may not have been a real wolf in the first place). 

But sure, the whole thing does have a certain Frankenstein-esque quality. If the three pups ever get fossilized, this may confuse genetically enhanced mad scientists in the far future. And yes, one of the puppies is named after a certain character in "Game of Thrones"!  

No, the dire wolf has not been brought back from extinction

Scientists say they have resurrected the dire wolf