Scientists say they revived dire wolf

[Phishfan]

I care Dave. And to clarify in case anyone doesn't know, I don't reference playing God in a religious way. That isn't my thing. I just don't see any practical usage of doing this. It feels like someone with plenty of intelligence just doing something for themselves and to get a pat on the back rather than using their gifts to actually address a problem. It seems self serving.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I didn't. I saw the movie over 20 years ago and don't think I ever revisited it for a second viewing.

We just brought back a predator who can easily kill a human and whose natural food sources no longer exist, the movie will be the evening news.

[Denver2]

We just brought back a predator who can easily kill a human and whose natural food sources no longer exist, the movie will be the evening news.

These things will only exist in small amounts and either on preserves or in captivity.  I know what Jurassic Park warned about ( it’s my favorite movie and Malcolm is among my favorite characters)

But I’m not too worried about this

I wish they’d focus on say saving Condors or Snow Leopars but alas

[Sunstroke]

I'm holding out for a saber-toothed tiger...they're fucking adorable as kittens.

[fyo]

Cool, but this has almost nothing to do with a Dire Wolf. They basically took a Gray Wolf, which according to the latest published science, split from the Dire Wolf something like 5 million years ago and genetically modified it by making about 15 edits (sources conflict a bit, somewhere between 14 and 20). Not all of those edits inserted DNA from the Dire Wolf. For instance, Colossal (the company behind it) chose to use Gray Wolf genes coding for large size and white fur - the latter of which is almost certainly not the color that Dire Wolves sported, but rather a Game of Thrones adaptation.

So what we have is effectively a designer Gray Wolf, but tiny amounts of Dire Wolf DNA inserted. Cool, but nothing like a Dire Wolf.

Colossal claims to have evidence that the Gray Wolf is the closest living relative to a Dire Wolf, but published research contends otherwise. Until Colossal actually publish their proof, it's hard not to consider that they chose the Gray Wolf mostly for looks and cool-factor.

Technically, if a Dire Wolf is 98% identical to a Gray Wolf, this designer edition is maybe 98.1%. And while 98% may sound close, that's also roughly how close humans are to chimps.

[masterfins]

Your scientists were so preoccupied by whether they could they never consider if they should.

+1, Jeff Goldblum


Nature chose them for extinction.

[Downunder Dolphan]

If they can bring a tiger back it will be much more convincing than this dire wolf hybrid which is cool but I’m not sure if it’s truly a dw

A lot less dangerous too, and there's more of a moral argument in this case to attempt it.

Before European settlement they were the apex predators in Tasmania - they were originally on the mainland and other islands, but increased competition from Dingoes/wild dogs had already culled their numbers elsewhere, and the last ones were in Tassie. Despite their status as an apex predator, their prey was primarily small rodents, mammals and marsupials, a lot smaller in size than you would expect.

It was already a small population that would struggle to compete with introduced foxes, cats, feral dogs and pigs, but they wrongly had a reputation for killing farmers' sheep and chickens - a bounty was introduced, and they were culled to extinction. They were wiped out directly because of European settlement - ironically it's one of the few predators in Australia that would have close to no chance of killing a human.