# How dire is the dire wolf? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 9, 2025, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814 "2025-04-09T02:38:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/1 "2025-04-09T02:38:15Z")
A company has just brought back the dire wolf from extinction using DNA from fossils. Some claim they are not _really_ dire wolves since the just changed a few genes from their gray wolf parents. But don’t WE have crap DNA from our evolution? Including bacteria that have invaded up? Don’t we match 99% of our DNA with chimps? And nobody questions that we are human. So how much DNA has to be unique to be another species? Or more specific to this thread, how much of a wolf’s DNA needs to be dire wolf DNA for it to be a full dire wolf? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/2 "2025-04-09T02:45:51Z")
A lot of scientist doubt it: > Other scientists disagree with this view, however. “This is a designer dog. This is a genetically modified gray wolf,” says Jacquelyn Gill, a paleoecologist at the University of Maine, who has worked with Shapiro in the past but was not involved in this project. “I have more than 14 Neandertal genes in me, and we wouldn’t call me a Neandertal.” > > The pups “don’t have any traits that would allow us to understand the dire wolf any better than we did yesterday,” Gill says, adding that understanding ice age organisms isn’t just a matter of knowing what they looked like or what they ate—but also about knowing what they did in those ancient ecosystems. “Some of those things are coded genetically; some of those are cultural” and passed down from generation to generation. > > At best, this would be an “incremental step” toward de-extinction, she says. > **[The Dire Wolf Isn’t Back—But Here’s What ‘De-Extinction’ Tech Can Actually Do](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-dire-wolf-isnt-back-but-heres-what-de-extinction-tech-can-actually-do/)** > > Colossal Bioscience says it has “de-extincted” the dire wolf, but other scientists disagree and say more important conservation science is being lost in all the hype ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/3 "2025-04-09T02:48:47Z")
For that matter, Scientific American ran an article a few years back about how dire wolves aren’t wolves at all, and their common ancestor with wolves is about as far back as man’s common ancestor with modern apes. > **[Dire Wolves Were Not Really Wolves, New Genetic Clues Reveal](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dire-wolves-were-not-really-wolves-new-genetic-clues-reveal/)** > > The extinct giant canids were a remarkable example of convergent evolution ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/4 "2025-04-09T02:54:58Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > A lot of scientist doubt it: That’s good cuz the last thing we need right now is to be entering the opening scenes of Jurassic Park. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/5 "2025-04-09T03:25:58Z")
It might be a refreshing change of pace. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/6 "2025-04-09T03:27:08Z")
I’m of the mind it can’t hurt and might well help. A few thousand velociraptors loose in various world capitals can’t possibly be bad news. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/7 "2025-04-09T06:32:25Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > A lot of scientist doubt it: Yes, in the same way lot of scientists doubt that the moon is made of green cheese. Factually correct, but an understatement. [https://www.science.org/content/article/dire-wolf-back-dead-not-exactly](https://www.science.org/content/article/dire-wolf-back-dead-not-exactly) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/8 "2025-04-09T08:02:24Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > A company has just brought back the dire wolf from extinction using DNA from fossils. No, they didn’t They created a hybrid, arguably a new species, with dire wolf traits. That is not insignificant, but it’s not “de-extincting” a species. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar0zgedLyTw) explains it better than I can. At least better than I can in a paragraph or two. Swapping out 20 genes will make gray wolves more like dire wolves, but it won’t make them dire wolves. Keep in mind that there is only about 0.1% difference between a chihuahua and a gray wolf but those few genes make a huge difference. So these modified wolves may be more like dire wolves than their parents, but saying they’re dire wolves is like saying a chihuahua is a gray wolf. There are people walking around today with about 3% Neanderthal genes, but we don’t call them Neanderthals, we call them _H. sapiens._ ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/9 "2025-04-09T16:19:33Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > > > A company has just brought back the dire wolf from extinction using DNA from fossils. > > No, they didn’t The pups howl beautifully though. > [@](#): > > There are people walking around today with about 3% Neanderthal genes, but we don’t call them Neanderthals, we call them I deserve commendation for resisting the temptation to complete this sentence with one or more juicy choices. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/10 "2025-04-09T16:30:11Z")
I have it on good authority that they constitute approximately six hundred pounds of sin, so that’s pretty dire. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/11 "2025-04-09T16:39:44Z")
Is it possible to say that X% of dire wolf genes are distinct from grey wolf genes? And talking about 3% neanderthal and 98.8% of chimp and human genes the same and 20 dire genes, &c., what percentage of our genes make us human as opposed to not-human. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/12 "2025-04-09T16:44:51Z")
Sure, nobody thinks the velociraptors are going to eat _their_ face… ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/13 "2025-04-09T16:46:21Z")
Do they hang out in dire straights? Or do the straights become dire because of their presence? OK, real question. Why were they named Dire Wolves? ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/14 "2025-04-09T16:49:13Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Do they hang out in dire straights? Straits are narrow passages of water between two landmasses, connecting two larger bodies of water on either end. Dire Straits are particularly dangerous (to shipping, presumably) straits. Straights are people attracted to members of the opposite gender. I’m not sure what Dire Straights are and I’m not sure I want to find out. > [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > OK, real question. Why were they named Dire Wolves? The scientific name is Aenocyon dirus, or “Terrible Dog” in Latin. Dirus \> Dire. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/15 "2025-04-09T17:19:43Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > The scientific name is Aenocyon dirus, or “Terrible Dog” in Latin. Dirus \> Dire. The corresponding Greek cognate is deinos, found in dinosaur. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/16 "2025-04-09T18:32:27Z")
Whatever amount of _genetic_ similarity they may have to the dire wolf, they won’t have the _behaviors_, which they would have learned from growing up in the pack. And if they’re isolated (which I understand to be the case), they won’t have the opportunity to learn grey wolf behaviors, either. Instinct can only take them so far. They are beautiful, though. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/17 "2025-04-09T18:51:31Z")
The Dire wolf wasnt some huge animal however. It’s size overlaps with the grey or Yukon wolf. Some get a bit bigger- wikipedia- _The dire wolf was **about the same size as the largest modern forms of gray wolf** (Canis lupus): the Yukon wolf and the northwestern wolf. A. d. guildayi weighed on average 60 kilograms (132 lb) and A. d. dirus was on average 68 kg (150 lb)._ Unless you were a wolf expert, you’d just think it was a wolf. Or a malamute even. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/18 "2025-04-09T19:53:33Z")
But what if you saw one grinning at your window? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/19 "2025-04-09T20:10:16Z")
The photos on the Colossal Biosciences website of the puppies make them look really cute. Of course if they’re really wolves, that’s misleading. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/20 "2025-04-09T20:17:08Z")
Have they ever traveled to London? Is their hair … perrrfect? Did they ever watch _“Game of Thrones”_? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814.md?page=2)