voted other because while i think it's cool, shouldn't they be focusing on bringing back extinct animals that still have a place in today's ecosystems? it's a great proof of concept but i feel like their efforts could be focused elsewhere.

I am a wildlife biologist working at a wolf sanctuary and I have had to draft an official public response lol...

Basically! They aren't Dire Wolves (they don't even share a genus!) but the company is claiming they are "functional equivalents"...

Some things I want to redirect guest's attention to is, this is not a replacement for conservation as a whole. There is no "de-extincting", and if we let the focus shift to "we can do what we want because we can just bring these animals back", we will get to a very dangerous tipping point very quickly. Extinction is still forever.

Another question: we are fighting tooth and claw to reintroduce gray wolves to their historical habitats with constant hurdles to face, especially in the court of public approval. If this became a sustainable species (read: no long term quality of life issues and breeding capability) where would they go? Is it even ethical to try to introduce them when we can't sustain species that are not extinct? What life would we be dooming t hem to when the primary reason they're believed to have gone extinct was the extinction of their natural prey species?

And finally, these cool headlines are overlooking the more pressing conservation implications. The restoration of the red wolf! The world now has cloning technology that allows the clones to have natural offspring with biol,ogical diversity, and now we can modify genes and have the offspring be viable. What could this mean for our many other species that are in steep decline? Let's not focus on the buzz words, let's focus on the implications for the future!

Very sorry, this is the first forum post I have every made in my life, it's just my life passion. I am a bit scared, because my entire job is rescuing wolves from the pet trade. I deal with animals in such horrible conditions, my heart wolf only survived to two years old because of the extreme malnourishment and trauma. I worry about what a new species would bring about when we already don't have the proper respect for the world we had.

TLDR; not dire wolves, functional equivalents (in intention), where do they go? what cool implications could this have for the restoration of critically emdangered species? how will we protect these individuals in the future? I am so scared of posting in public spaces :')

this is some really good input :o I didn't even think about the impact this kind of thing could cause for our existing critters :c

but I totally agree, that we should be focusing onthe animals that we can save, rather than attempting to recreate animals that no longer exist because of us (assuming that we had something to do with it, I'm not very informed on the topic. but typically human impact is part of the issue if I'm not mistaken)

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thank you for sharing, friend <3

I think It is cool but they aren't truely dire wolves. The thing they should be focused on is actually helping save the red wolf instead of making fake dire wolves and other extinct species.

It sounds exciting but there are a few concerns. For starters, they might not even be Dire Wolves. I haven't done enough research yet so anyone is welcome to inform me on this but if they were real Dire Wolves, what would be next? Things shouldn't be genetically messed with because of the dangers of it. Most people have seen Jurassic Park and gigantic creatures, even if their herbivores, could still be a real danger. On the other side, creatures that have gone extinct recently or will go extinct now have a chance of coming back. I think that's pretty cool. I'm fifty-fifty on it.

Voted other, while its cool that they have the technology and science to do this, i feel its kinda messed up. The world is dying, living animals that the human species have caused endangerment to are dying, i feel like the efforts should be placed elsewhere to conserve and restore a somewhat more natural order to the world. Especially when the US is as messed up as it is right now and whispers of war are going about. Make plants and animals and food more resistant, healthier, etc.

They're cute and they're not exactly dire wolves but I don't think they should've been made. We should be trying to save actual endangered animals, not creating new ones

I think it's pretty cool even if they aren't actually dire wolves!

I think it's just really cool in general, even if they aren't real dire wolves!

This. It feels irresponsible to be trying to bring back apex predators from the past when our ecosystem can barely sustain itself anymore and it's not getting any better. Do they intend to eventually foster a wild population of them? What are the possible consequences of that? And if not, what was the point then? To just make big fancy expensive pets? We already have those lol.

So the fact it seems irresponsble, but also with all the news I've seen with George R. R. Martin (aka author of Game of Thrones) showing them off and posing with them, idk it seems like a marketing tactic almost. I wish they had just used the technology to bring back a harmless extinct animal (the dodo bird was RIGHT THERE). Or, idk, help an endangered species still living on our planet instead.