The Company Explicitly Stated This Was “The Rebirth of the Once Extinct Dire Wolf”
Colossal Biosciences didn’t shy away from grand declarations. Their official website proclaimed themselves “the world’s first de-extinction company” and boldly announced in April 2025 that they had achieved “the world’s first successfully de-extincted animal” with the birth of dire wolf pups. Their press release triumphantly declared “Colossal Announces World’s First De-Extinction: Birth of Dire Wolves,” while simultaneously asserting that “The world’s definition of de-extinction is flawed.” The company ambitiously claimed they could deliver woolly mammoth hybrid calves by 2028 and promised to reintroduce these creatures to Arctic tundra habitats. With $435M in total funding and a staggering $10.2 billion valuation, Colossal positioned itself as a revolutionary force capable of “generating an organism that both resembles and is genetically similar to an extinct species by resurrecting its lost lineage of core genes.” Their roster of promised resurrections included not just dire wolves and woolly mammoths, but also Tasmanian tigers, dodos, and a “long list” of other species including Steller’s sea cow, saber-tooth cats, and woolly rhinoceros.