Headlines broke in April 2025 that the dire wolf had been brought back from extinction. In reality, however, the animal that was created was genetically 99.5% identical to the gray wolf. Consequently, a gray wolf with white fur was essentially being touted as a dire wolf.
There were a few other differences between the new dire wolf and the gray wolf. Most noticeably, the dire wolf was larger than the gray wolf. The personalities were different from one another as well. This led the US government to use dire wolf de-extinction as a reason to abandon endangered species, much to the chagrin of conservationists.
This leads to the question of what is the difference between dire wolves and gray wolves? Are there differences? The answer is there are, and the differences are what have allowed the gray wolves to survive and what drove the dire wolves into extinction 12,500 years ago.
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The Difference Between Dire Wolves And Gray Wolves
While the dire wolf and gray wolf look similar, the two species are very different
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On the surface, gray wolves and dire wolves look very similar. This has drawn many comparisons between the two and made people think the two species are related. However, the two species have quite a few differences, making it clear just how different dire wolves and gray wolves truly are.
Dire Wolves Are Larger Than Gray Wolves
When looking at dire wolves and gray wolves, the first difference that can be seen is the build of the two animals. Where the gray wolf is tall and lanky, the dire wolves are robust and compact. These builds make gray wolves as fast and agile as they are, and they are what made the dire wolves successful in taking down prey multiple times their size.
Dire Wolves Jaws Were Made To Crack Bone
In addition to size, the jaw structures of the dire wolf and gray wolf are different. This was for functionality. Dire wolves needed strong jaws to crack the bones of their prey. According to scientists, this was done to get the marrow out of the bones. Conversely, gray wolves did not need to crack the bones of their prey. They instead chose to feed on the meat of the animal alone, and their pointer jaw and knife-sharp teeth allowed this to happen.
Gray Wolves' Adaptability To Hunt A Variety Of Animals Allowed Them To Thrive
The dire and gray wolf hunt in remarkably different ways. While the two apex predators hunt in packs, their hunting styles are distinct. The dire wolves relied on their brute strength to take down animals, which allowed them to hunt larger animals that were not as fast during the Ice Age.
Gray wolves hunt in packs as well. However, their speed allows the species to have variety in their diet. The array allowed the gray wolves to exist after the Ice Age ended versus the dire wolves that died off with the larger animals of that era.
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Why Dire Wolves And Gray Wolves Are So Different
Dire wolves and gray wolves evolved into different species 5.7 million years ago
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Dire wolves and gray wolves are different because they are different species. While the two wolves look the same, they are genetically different.
According to a 2021 study published in Nature, gray wolves and dire wolves diverged genetically approximately 5.7 million years ago. The dire wolf species was known as Aenocyon, whereas gray wolves fall into the genus Canin. The two species are so different that there has been no interbreeding between them since the time they diverged.
With that being said, according to Mairin Balisi, a paleontologist and curator at the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology in California who was not involved in the study, there is the possibility that the fact that gray wolves and dire wolves interbred has not yet been discovered.
"Wolf-like canids do hybridize today -- e.g., gray wolves and coyotes -- so interbreeding between dire and gray wolves may have happened and just has yet to be detected." - Mairin Balisi
If it did happen, it was likely before 5.7 million years ago, when the two species had more genetics in common than they do today.
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Why The Differences Between Gray Wolves And Dire Wolves Matter
The differences matter because bringing a dire wolf back from extinction means they are not necessarily equipped to handle the climate of Earth in its current state
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While dire wolves and gray wolves may look similar in body shape, the animals are very different. This has a lot to do with the genetic makeup of the two species.
Despite the fact that Colossal Biosciences was able to alter some of the genes of the gray wolf to make the appearance of a dire wolf, at the end of the day, the new dire wolves and the gray wolves have "genomes that are 99.5% identical." This makes the new dire wolves, gray wolves.
However, if the dire wolves from the past were looked at, they are their own species. No point in time has been found that the wolf and dire wolf species ever interbred.
The differences, such as the build and jaw strength of the dire wolves of old, allowed these predators to take down massive animals from the Ice Age. Conversely, gray wolves were built for agility. They were able to hunt a variety of animals.
This difference is what allowed the gray wolf to thrive after the Ice Age ended and caused the dire wolf to go extinct. As the large prey began to die out, there was nothing for the dire wolves to eat. They were not built for speed. They were built for strength. That strength also had to be used in numbers to take down the large prey. Consequently, when the dire wolves began to die out, they no longer had large packs to help hunt.
This fact likely contributed to the demise of dire wolves, and when they were extinct, gray wolves became the apex predators both in what is now the US and abroad.
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Why There Is Controversy Surrounding Bringing Animals Back From Extinction
Many wonder why so much energy and money is being spent on bringing back extinct animals rather than focusing on and saving the ones that are endangered on the planet now
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While it is exciting for some in the scientific community that animals are being brought back from extinction, others in the community and conservationists believe bringing back animals that once roamed the Earth is a bad idea.
The idea of de-extinction is controversial for various reasons. Many of these reasons have to do with the state of climate change around the world, the fact that a number of animals could go extinct by the end of 2025 and need conservation help, and the fact that other wolf species could use the funding to try to bring back animals to save those that are still here.
No Plan On What To Do With Animals Once They Are Brought Back From Extinction
Companies like Colossal Biosciences have big plans to bring back the woolly mammoth and the dodo, among other animals in the future. The problem, according to conservationists, is that there is no plan for what to do with these animals once they become de-extinct.
According to Regan Downey, Director of Education for the Wolf Conservation Center, dire wolves have never had the opportunity to adapt to a habitat that is similar to Earth today. These wolves lived during the Ice Age. When the Ice Age was ending, the dire wolves went extinct. While much of this has to do with the inability to adapt to hunt smaller prey versus the larger animals alive during that time, the massively increased temperature would not be habitable for these animals.
Because of this, Downey finds it "upsetting" that a sustainable habitat has not been created for dire wolves before attempting to bring them back from extinction.
Gray Wolves Are Already Here
Given that the dire wolves that were created were created using gray wolf DNA, the actual dire wolf species has not been brought back from extinction. Consequently, per The Independent, scientists are genetically altering gray wolves, of which there are plenty, according to Downey.
"It's frustrating that there's time and energy devoted to bringing back an animal when we have gray wolves already." - Regan Downey
To add to that frustration that Downey has, there is the fact that, according to Dr. Emily Lindsey, Curator of the La Brea Tar Pits, there are issues across the US with people attempting to peacefully co-exist with gray wolves. Adding another apex predator into the mix would bring nothing but problems.
"It is worth pointing out that there is a lot of public concern just about gray wolves reoccupying their historic ranges, so the idea that we are going to start peacefully co-existing with even larger, long-extinct predators is just preposterous." - Dr. Emily Lindsey
Given the controversy surrounding the dire wolf de-extinction, it can only be imagined how heated the debates would be if and when other species can be removed from the extinction list. This will be especially true if habitats these animals need to not only exist but thrive are not produced. Conservationists will argue what the point was in bringing back an animal from extinction only to watch it die in an environment in which the animal was never meant to exist.