Colossal Biosciences’ dire wolf pups hit major milestones as revived pack matures
Two of the first modern-era dire wolves produced through de‑extinction efforts have moved beyond the puppy phase and are showing clear advancements in hunting, social behavior and physical development. The animals—born from ancient DNA implanted into surrogate dog mothers—are now being managed as a developing pack while caretakers prepare for longer‑term breeding and rewilding goals.
Births, origins and growing numbers
Colossal Biosciences used ancient dire wolf DNA and surrogate dog mothers to bring three pups into the world: the males Romulus and Remus, born Oct. 1, 2024 (ET), and a female named Khaleesi, born in Jan. 2025 (ET). The company has continued to monitor the trio as they age; Romulus and Remus are now roughly 16 months old and Khaleesi is several months younger. Staff confirm more pups are in development as part of an effort to establish a stable breeding population.
Those births mark the clearest demonstration to date of de‑extinction tools being applied beyond laboratory proof of concept: fertilized dire wolf eggs were implanted into surrogates and carried to term, then reared on a large preserve designed to let natural behaviors emerge under managed conditions.
Hunting milestones, behavior and safety protocols
As the pair moves into active pack life, handlers have recorded tangible hunting progress. The two males have transitioned from practice runs and small prey captures—snaring rodents and rabbits that entered their enclosure—to feeding on a deer carcass for the first time during a supervised session. Care staff describe their pursuit skills as effective while noting that killing technique remains a developmental edge that typically sharpens with age and experience in large canids.
Physical differences are emerging between the siblings: Romulus is broader and stockier, while Remus is taller and lankier. Those builds influence how each male moves, chases and interacts on the landscape. Play and testing of social bonds have been observed in supervised settings with Khaleesi present, and staff are treating the trio as a nascent pack to learn about social structure, dominance and cooperative hunting as they age toward adulthood.
Handlers stress that familiarity with routine feeding makes the wolves tolerant of human presence, but the animals retain wild predatory instincts. Paige McNickle, the company’s manager of animal husbandry, emphasized the risk posed by sudden movement: "If the dire wolves Romulus and Remus saw her running around in the enclosure they would think I was prey and all the instincts would come in and they would take me down and take me down quickly. " Daily work centers on strict protocols—measured feeding, controlled social introductions and constant oversight—so staff can promote welfare while preventing dangerous encounters.
Next steps: breeding, habitat and research
The preserve provides more than 2, 000 acres for the animals to develop natural behaviors while caretakers maintain safety and monitoring. Colossal’s stated goal is to develop a breeding population of dire wolves that can inform conservation science and offer insights into how closely reconstructed species behave in semi‑natural settings. To that end, more pups are in the pipeline and the team is tracking growth rates, hunting proficiency and social dynamics as the individuals approach physical maturity—typically around three years of age for wolves of this size.
Researchers and animal care staff plan to use observations from this early pack to refine husbandry techniques, test reintroduction models in controlled environments and better understand how revived predators might integrate into larger ecosystems. For now, the emphasis remains on cautious, measured progress: documenting milestones, protecting human handlers and ensuring the animals can develop the skills they need before any broader release or expansion of the program.
