{"id":484,"date":"2025-05-06T15:55:38","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T15:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sewellconsultancy.com\/?p=484"},"modified":"2025-05-12T03:20:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T03:20:53","slug":"dire-wolf-scientists-should-know-de-extinction-is-a-fools-errand-opinion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sewellconsultancy.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/06\/dire-wolf-scientists-should-know-de-extinction-is-a-fools-errand-opinion\/","title":{"rendered":"Dire wolf scientists should know \u201cde-extinction\u201d is a fool\u2019s errand (Opinion)"},"content":{"rendered":"

To breathless media coverage, a company called Colossal Biosciences now claims to have produced three genetically engineered pups<\/a> of the long-extinct dire wolf. Scientific criticism followed fast.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s press release claimed the pups to be \u201cthe world\u2019s first de-extinct animals \u2026 brought back from extinction using genetic edits derived from a complete dire wolf genome, meticulously reconstructed by Colossal from ancient DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts in paleogenetics pointed out that only 14 genes, with 20 differences between living gray wolves and extinct dire wolves, were involved in the \u201cedits.\u201d Pontus Skoglund, head of the Ancient Genomics Laboratory at Britain\u2019s Francis Crick Institute, posted on BlueSky: \u201cWould a chimpanzee with 20 gene edits be human? \u2026 These individuals seem optimistically 1\/100,000th dire wolf.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conservationists noted other concerns.\u00a0 What is the plan for dire wolves and other \u201cde-extinct\u201d species?\u00a0 Where is the habitat for an animal that was adapted for preying on now-extinct megafauna like ground sloths and giant bison?\u00a0 How might dire wolves and gray wolves co-exist, and could they hybridize?<\/p>\n

And the real question: Wouldn\u2019t Colossal\u2019s enormous financial resources be better used to conserve existing species?<\/p>\n

According to the Washington Post, the company has been valued at $10.2 billion and has raised $435 million in funding; billionaire and conservative mega-donor Peter Thiel is an investor.<\/p>\n

Despite all this, there is one place where the scientifically dubious and ethically problematic goal of \u201cde-extinction\u201d has been embraced without reservation: the Trump Administration.<\/p>\n

In a post on X, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum claimed that most species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) have not recovered \u201cbecause the status quo is focused on regulation more than innovation,\u201d and went on to hail Colossal\u2019s announcement: \u201cThe revival of the Dire Wolf heralds the advent of a thrilling new era of scientific wonder, showcasing how the concept of de-extinction can serve as a bedrock for modern species conservation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burgum\u2019s endorsement of Colossal went even farther during a meeting with Interior Department employees: \u201cIf we\u2019re going to be in anguish about losing a species, now we have an opportunity to bring them back. Pick your favorite species and call Colossal.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, the Endangered Species Act has produced some spectacular recovery successes, including the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, and American alligator. And the law has succeeded in preventing the extinction of over 99% of listed species.<\/p>\n

Burgum is correct that most ESA-listed species have not recovered sufficiently to be \u201cdelisted,\u201d declared no longer at risk of extinction.\u00a0 But the reason is not excessive regulation.<\/p>\n

A peer-reviewed analysis of species listed by the law from 1992 through 2020 concluded that the reasons for the low rate of delisting were \u201csmall population sizes at time of listing, coupled with delayed protection and insufficient funding.\u201d To this can be added the fact that by the time many species are listed, their suitable habitat has dwindled too much to support robust recovered populations.<\/p>\n

The \u201cinnovation\u201d needed to protect America\u2019s biodiversity is not the high-tech resurrection of extinct species. It is simply to list declining species earlier, when their populations are still large enough to benefit from the protections that the law provides. And funding must be sufficient to support scientifically sound recovery plans.\u00a0 The paper cited above found that spending per listed species declined by nearly 50% from 1985 to 2020.<\/p>\n

Burgum\u2019s statements ignore the most basic goal of conservation. It is not to preserve individual animals, it is to help populations sustain themselves in their native habitats, fulfilling their ecological roles and exhibiting the full range of their natural behaviors.<\/p>\n

The idea that species can be conserved by picking up the phone to \u201ccall Colossal\u201d and order up a few genetically engineered survivors is a delusional and disingenuous fantasy.<\/p>\n

Burgum has made clear that his management of the more than 500 million acres of public land under his authority will be all about energy extraction. On his first day in office, he released six Secretarial Orders, all of which were focused on increasing fossil fuel production. None mentioned the words \u201cwildlife\u201d or \u201cconservation,\u201d much less endangered species.<\/p>\n

Endangered species such as sage grouse, gray wolves, and grizzly bears are inconvenient obstacles to \u201cunleashing\u201d fossil fuel extraction everywhere across the public lands of the West. We can expect many attacks on the Endangered Species Act from this administration.<\/p>\n

But none is more wrong-headed–or cynical\u2014than using those cute genetically engineered \u201cdire wolf\u201d pups to distract from the urgent needs of actual endangered species.<\/p>\n

Pepper Trail is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He is a conservation biologist and lives in Oregon.<\/em><\/p>\n

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To breathless media coverage, a company called Colossal Biosciences now claims to have produced three genetically engineered pups of the long-extinct dire wolf. Scientific criticism followed fast. The company\u2019s press<\/p>\n

Continue reading <\/use> <\/svg>Dire wolf scientists should know \u201cde-extinction\u201d is a fool\u2019s errand (Opinion)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sewellconsultancy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sewellconsultancy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sewellconsultancy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sewellconsultancy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sewellconsultancy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/sewellconsultancy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":485,"href":"http:\/\/sewellconsultancy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions\/485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sewellconsultancy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sewellconsultancy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sewellconsultancy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sewellconsultancy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}