The once-extinct dire wolf – of Game of Thrones fame in pop culture – has come back to life after having vanished off the face of the world more than 10,000 years. Thanks to the genetic engineering company Colossal Biosciences, the “de-extinction technologies” are finally a reality.

On Monday, the Dallas-based company announced that it had successfully birthed three dire wolf puppies. Colossal’s leap towards potentially bringing back several other extinct species marks celebrates the dire wolf’s rebirth as the world’s first de-extinction success.

“Our team took DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull and made healthy dire wolf puppies,” Colossal CEO and co-founder Ben Lamm said in a press release. “It was once said, ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ Today, our team gets to unveil some of the magic they are working on and its broader impact on conservation.”

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Meet the new de-extinct Game of Thrones dire wolf puppies

Colossal Biosciences has since introduced the genetically engineered dire wolf puppies: Romulus and Remus to the world as the first animals to be brought back from extinction. Although the news has only hit the deck now, the company confirmed that they were reborn on October 1, 2024. In January, Colossal welcomed a third genetically engineered dire wolf named Khaleesi – a female this time.

The biotech giant also shared their YouTube channel – not only to spread the word about the world’s first de-extinction success, but also to document the dire wolf pups’ life journey and growth.

In 2021, Lamm, alongside George Church, a biologist at Harvard Medical School, founded Colossal. Together, they sought to bring back the woolly mammoth, with their foundational agenda: to “rapidly advance the field of species de-extinction.” Four years later, they have achieved that end but by giving dire wolves another chance at life.

According to Bloomberg, the private establishment is valued at $10 billion, and it is also focussed on succeeding with the de-extinction of the Australian thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) and dodo. Last month, Colossal also confirmed that it had gentically engineered the Woolly Mouse.

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About dire wolves

Having gone extinct about 13,000 years ago, dire wolves gained the famed status of mythical creatures George RR Martin’s fantasy novels and HBO’s Game of Thrones. In most recent pop culture memory, they have lived on as the sigil or mascot of House Stark. Their closest living relatives today are gray wolves.

Interestingly enough, Martin has also played a consequential role in the dire wolves’ genetically engineered resurrection as an investor and cultural advisor to Colossal. In a statement quoted by USA Today, he said, “Many people view dire wolves as mythical creatures that only exist in a fantasy world, but in reality, they have a rich history of contributing to the American ecosystem. I get the luxury to write about magic, but Ben and Colossal have created magic by bringing these majestic beasts back to our world.”