How big do dire wolves get and should I be afraid?

Colossal Biosciences “de-extincted” the dire wolf, bringing forth three pups through a combination of ancient DNA and modern genetic wizardry. The puppies – Romulus and Remus and Khaleesi – were born between October 2024 and January 2025 to surrogate mother dogs. This scientific sleight-of-hand involved extracting DNA from ancient remains, identifying key genetic differences between dire wolves and modern gray wolves, and using CRISPR gene-editing to create what amounts to dire wolf 2.0.

But what exactly have we welcomed back into the world? The real Canis dirus was a formidable beast that roamed North America during the Pleistocene epoch, going extinct around 12,500 years ago. Adults typically weighed between 150 to 200 pounds (68-91 kg) – nearly twice the size of today’s gray wolves. Standing roughly 31-33 inches (80-85 cm) at the shoulder, dire wolves were built like canine linebackers: shorter, broader, and more robustly muscled than modern wolves, with skulls that could measure up to 12 inches long with bone-crushing jaws and teeth.

In Game of Thrones, dire wolves were depicted as loyal companions with almost supernatural intelligence. Real dire wolves? Not so much. They were wild animals, driven by survival instincts, not a desire to cuddle with Jon Snow.

So should we be afraid? In a word: absolutely. Not necessarily because these genetically modified organisms will escape and terrorize suburban neighborhoods – though that’s certainly a concern worth addressing. The real fear lies in what this represents: humanity’s growing comfort with playing god without fully considering the consequences.

We’re casually dismantling the barrier between extinct and extant, deciding which species deserve resurrection and which remain relegated to museum displays. Modern ecosystems have spent thousands of years evolving without dire wolves, and suddenly adding them back into the mix could throw everything out of balance. What happens when dire wolves start competing with existing predators like gray wolves, coyotes, or bears?

Let’s not forget the welfare of the animals themselves. These aren’t true dire wolves but genetic approximations – chimeras created by editing modern wolf DNA. They exist in an evolutionary limbo, neither fully dire wolf nor gray wolf, born into a world they weren’t designed for. What kind of life awaits these scientific marvels? Are they destined for wildlife preserves, zoos, research facilities, or as macabre curiosities for the ultra-wealthy? Perhaps what should frighten us most isn’t the dire wolf itself but our growing hubris.