Dire wolf pups aren't proof of gene-tech beating extinction

But designer animals created by gene-editing are also a marvel

- FAYE D. FLAM

In a wildly misleading announcement for what is still an amazing achievement, researchers at a Dallas-based startup claimed they'd created dire wolves, a species that has been extinct for more than 12,000 years. To make the news more irresistible, there were images of adorable white fluffy pups named Romulus and Remus.

Scientists outside the company, Colossal Biosciences, say the pups aren't really the same dire wolves that roamed North America during the last Ice Age. But they do represent an impressive feat of genetic manipulation that could usher in a new era of designer animals.

The dire wolf announcement exemplifies today's P.T. Barnum style of doing science, where projects are funded by billionaires and celebrities and the results are packaged to sell. Colossal made international headlines last month when it announced it had created a genetically modified mouse with a mammoth-like woolly coat.

The company had already announced that it had raised more than $435 million toward its ultimate goal to "de-extinct" the woolly mammoth. There are also plans for a dodo bird and Tasmanian tiger.

But what the company is doing isn't cloning, de-extinction or resurrection of ancient beasts.