Scientists bring back dead wolves – level 3

14-04-2025 15:00

A US biotech company says it has brought back dire wolves, animals that went extinct more than 12,000 years ago. They created three wolf-like creatures using grey wolves and gene editing.

The scientists say they changed the DNA of grey wolves to include traits found in ancient dire wolves. The company used cloning to produce the animals and now calls them dire wolves. However, many scientists are not convinced that these animals are truly dire wolves. They explain that real species are more than just DNA. Each species has unique parasites, bacteria, and behaviors that cannot be recreated. One expert says the company only made small changes to modern wolves. These changes don’t bring back an extinct animal but only create a new version of a grey wolf.

Some believe the company is using pop culture and exciting language to get attention and increase its value. Experts warn that science cannot fix the damage humans are doing to nature, saying that protecting real ecosystems is more important than rebuilding lost ones.

Difficult words: biotech (a type of science that uses living things, like cells or DNA), dire (very serious, bad, or scary), parasite (a small animal or bug that lives on or inside another animal and takes from it).

You can watch the video news lower on this page.

How did the use of cloning and gene editing with grey wolves aim to produce wolf-like animals, and why do some experts argue that these modifications fall short of reviving an extinct species?

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