#biosciences

hi. today we’re talking about colossal biosciences and their announcement that they’re bringing back the dire wolf. this is me letting you know they are absolutely not. not really. not in any way that matters to conservation, science, or actual wolves.

they’re not reviving Aenocyon dirus. they’re making a Frankenstein predator out of modern canid DNA and slapping the name dire wolf on it because that gets headlines. that’s not resurrection. that’s branding.

let’s be very clear. the real dire wolf is extinct. gone for over 10,000 years. it wasn’t even a “true wolf.” it was a separate genus from gray wolves that split off over 5 million years ago. no dog or wolf shares enough DNA to revive it. it didn’t interbreed with wolves. it didn’t evolve with them. it was its own weird jacked cousin that couldn’t keep up with climate change or prey collapse.

colossal is taking fragments of ancient DNA, mixing them with modern wolf and possibly dog genes, and saying they’ll recreate a “proxy species” that will fill the same ecological niche. they’re not even pretending this is a full de-extinction. they’re making a vibe match and hoping people are too dazzled to ask questions.

this wouldn’t piss me off as much if they weren’t pretending it’s a conservation win. it’s not. the idea that we can engineer our way out of extinction is a massive distraction from the fact that we are still actively destroying the ecosystems we have. we don’t need designer wolves. we need to stop wiping out the species that already exist. we need to protect gray wolves and red wolves and Ethiopian wolves and the 1,000 other species losing habitat every day. and colossal is out here playing Jurassic Park with corporate funding while we can’t even get enough legislation passed to keep wolves from being shot out of helicopters in Montana.

but olivia you’re a plant person. what do you know about conservation. ok first of all thank you for that attack. second of all I wanted to be a zookeeper for years and only switched to range when I realized I’d have to fight ten other interns for the right to scoop tiger poop for $14 an hour. I still love predators. I still care about balance and biodiversity. I just spend more time with grass now.

anyway. colossal is not bringing back dire wolves. they’re making a genetically weird dog with a prehistoric aesthetic. and pretending that’s a win for nature is not just misleading. it’s dangerous. extinction is real. it’s permanent. and this kind of science-flavored fantasy makes people think we don’t have to worry about it anymore. like we’ll just 3D print a new animal later. like there’s a backup plan. there isn’t.

that’s it. the dire wolf is still extinct. what we’re getting is a glorified science project with teeth. stop calling it conservation. and stop pretending extinction is reversible just because you want to make headlines.

love u bye.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

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Oct 27 / A desk of a tired student who tries to finish a seminar in time

so ya home gal got accepted into university!!! i am officially going to the university of nottingham this september to study biochemistry and genetics and i for real could not be happier