Once thought to belong in myths—or HBO’s Game of Thrones—dire wolves are now very real, and they’re howling.
Turner, like many, once believed dire wolves were fictional. “Were you a fan of Game of Thrones?” she asked Lamm.
“I was,” he replied. “But back then, I never thought I’d be part of something that actually brings dragons—or dire wolves—into reality.”
Romulus, Remus, and the Rise of Real Wolves
Lamm shared that the first dire wolf pups, Romulus and Remus, began howling by the time they were just three weeks old, triggered by everything from human voices to owl hoots. Now six months old, they live on a 2,000-acre preserve in a secret location that Lamm described as feeling “very Yellowstone.”
The team is using AI to study the wolves’ vocalizations, hoping to crack the code of what he calls “wolf linguistics.” Turns out, these revived creatures don’t just howl—they sing in unique tones and inflections unlike any modern wolves.
“We’re going to release those sounds later this year,” Lamm revealed, referring to the lab’s bio-acoustic project that will map and decode the calls of the dire wolf.
Meet Khaleesi, the Newest Pack Member
The pack is about to get a little bigger. Lamm announced that a new female dire wolf named Khaleesi—currently three months old—will soon be introduced to Romulus and Remus. The trio is expected to form the nucleus of the first socialized dire wolf pack in over a millennium.
On the preserve, these wolves are not just lounging—they’re learning to hunt and socialize, slowly taking on the behaviors of true wild predators.
“They’re becoming more and more true wolf-like every day,” Lamm said.
Not Everyone Is Howling With Joy
Colossal Labs’ project has drawn both admiration and scientific skepticism. Some critics argue these aren’t true dire wolves, but rather genetically edited gray wolves. A now-disputed media link had misquoted evolutionary biologist Beth Shapiro as casting doubt on their authenticity—a claim Colossal is actively trying to correct.
“She never said they weren’t dire wolves,” a company spokesperson clarified. “We’re working to get it retracted.”
Beyond Wolves: What’s Next?
The wolves are only one piece of Colossal’s larger ambition. Back in March, the company raised $200 million in Series C funding, reaching a jaw-dropping $10.2 billion valuation. Investors are betting on a future filled with de-extinct species—like the Tasmanian tiger, the dodo, and even mammoth-like mice, which the company claims were engineered in just a month.
And what about dinosaurs?
Turner couldn’t resist asking.
Lamm laughed, admitting it’s “complicated” but didn’t completely rule it out. “Maybe this summer, there could be a dodo update that’s interesting,” he hinted.
Final Thought
From sci-fi fantasy to real-life bioengineering, Colossal Labs is playing with the very boundaries of extinction—and of what it means to be “alive” again. Whether this is the future of conservation or the beginning of a Jurassic-style ethical debate, one thing’s for sure:
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