Background:

The revival of the dire wolf by an US based company proves that extinct species can be brought back through advanced genetic editing and cloning technologies.

This was done through gene editing using crispr (clustered interspaced short palindromic repeats) technology and Cloning (Remember – Dolly the sheep, first mammal to be cloned)

What exactly is de-extinction?

“The term ‘de-extinction’ is misleading in its implication that extinct species, species for which no viable members remain, can be resurrected in their genetic, behavioural and physiological entirety. ‘De-extinction’ is therefore here used in a limited sense to apply to any attempt to create some proxy of an extinct species or subspecies,” states IUCN

Benefits:

• Restoration of Ecosystem Functions – Pollination, seed dispersal, prey-predator balance, and nutrient cycling. Example: Dodo’s role in seed dispersal in Mauritius.
• Biodiversity Recovery and Conservation – Using extinct or proxy species to strengthen weakened ecosystems. Addresses the current biodiversity crisis and species loss.
• Rewilding and Habitat Rejuvenation – Use of large herbivores (e.g., aurochs proxies) to manage landscapes. Restoration of park-like, biodiverse habitats (e.g., Tauros Programme in Eurasia).
• Climate Regulation through Rewilding – Large herbivores and predators can impact vegetation and carbon cycling. Example: Woolly mammoths in tundra ecosystems to reduce permafrost thaw.
• Genetic and Species Resilience – Increasing genetic diversity in fragile ecosystems. Revived species could add resilience to environmental stressors.
• Human Responsibility and Environmental Justice – Correcting human-driven extinctions (e.g., thylacine, dodo). Moral obligation to restore what was lost due to anthropogenic causes.

Criticism

• Ethical concerns – Ethicists point out that the discussion of de-extinction could give the impression that extinction is reversible, thereby undermining the seriousness of human actions that lead to extinction of species.
• Environmental concerns – The release of de-extinct species carries the risk of invasiveness, disease transmission and unforeseen species interactions.  There is also the question of climate change and habitat requirements.
• Health concerns – Welfare of the animal created and the surrogate used in its birth. Eg., Dolly the sheep was plagued with arthritis and lung disease, and died at six years, whereas sheep normally live up to 12 years.
• Problems in birth – Target animal being larger or differently shaped than the surrogate, the surrogate could reject the “unusual” offspring. Thus animals created would grow in absence of elders of their own species

About Dire wolf:

• The canine, dire wolf, also known as Aenocyon dirus in scientific lexicon.
• Hunted in packs and fed on horses, ground sloths and bison.
• Survived the ice age during Pleistocene Epoch by changed its physical traits and adapted to diverse habitats like boreal grasslands, coastal woodlands and tropical wetlands
• Establishing its range from Alaska in North America to Mexico, Peru and Venezuela in South America.
• Dire wolf went extinct between 13,000 and 10,000 years ago, probably due increased competition for foods