androidsixteen 🌲
@androidsixteen.eth
"The researchers edited in a gene variant that's found in grey wolf populations that are physically large, rather than the variant found in the dire wolf genome." Even wolf cloning is a marketing gimmick / slop now https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/04/de-extinction-company-announces-that-the-dire-wolf-is-back/
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Garrett
@garrett
Wait why didn't they just edit in the variant of the dire wolf genome? What makes these dire wolves then?
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androidsixteen 🌲
@androidsixteen.eth
No idea, probably because it was less certain to have the appearance they wanted What makes them "dire wolves" is that they look bigger and whiter than gray wolves (but they're actually just gmo gray wolves)
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Garrett
@garrett
I don't think it's all spin but who knows https://warpcast.com/garrett/0x02bf8012
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androidsixteen 🌲
@androidsixteen.eth
From the Ars Technica article: "There were some cases where the variants found in the dire wolf were edited in. Without the full catalog of edits, it's impossible to tell how many of the 15 changes were dire wolf-specific. But it's clear that a significant amount of the new "dire wolf's" appearance is the product of using gene editing to achieve what might otherwise take years of selective breeding of existing gray wolf populations. Colossal's Ben Lamm told Ars that imaging of the animal's skeletal morphology to determine which species it resembles will occur during the pups' first annual exam." I think not being able to know is by design -- otherwise, we might be underwhelmed
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Garrett
@garrett
yeah agreed but i'm not writing them off based on this ambiguity (yet)
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