Recently, a team of scientists has managed to bring back an extinct animal, the dire wolf. While it might not be a perfect replica of a dire wolf, it’s close, and it’s a major breakthrough for science. But a lot of people are skeptical and are asking many questions about this breakthrough.

The team that has done this is from a Texas biotech startup called Colossal Biosciences. While they have not published a peer-reviewed paper or given clear information on how they have done it, they have said in multiple interviews that they have done it by gathering dire wolf DNA from numerous different sources, including some of the dire wolf’s other ancestors, then splicing it all together. To find out more, you can visit their website, and click on the dire wolf section in their website index. Even though there is a chance they could be deceiving the public, if they’re telling the truth, what they’ve done is a breakthrough, but it raises so many questions, like if this is even right to do? Should we bring back extinct animals to a changed world?

While I can appreciate how groundbreaking this could be, it feels like it’s being used wrong. Instead of bringing back an extinct animal from centuries ago whose ecosystem has died out, we could bring back recently extinct animals that are still needed in their respective ecosystems, or to conserve species better. As much as I would love to have Jurassic Park in real life, I don’t think that our goal should be bringing back such old animals. There are over 16,000 animals on the endangered list, and 500 animals have gone extinct in the past 100 years. These are the types of animals we should have our eyes on. A lot of them still have an ecosystem they fit into and could help make it better.

Also, what is the point of bringing back an animal that has no place in the modern world and would have no chance to survive?  Not only would they have no chance to survive, but they could also disturb other animals and their environment. We haven’t even considered what they could do to humans and who could be put at risk.

While I would love to see the return of extinct animals, we should approach this with caution and consider the effects it could have on everything first. While for now it’s mostly science fiction, maybe in the near future, we could really have our own Isla Nublar with dinosaurs running around. With many different views and perspectives on this subject, it’s important for everyone to form their own opinion and proceed with a level of caution as science continues to advance.