The most fascinating news recently is the birth of dire wolf pups! It's almost symbolic of Easter with new beginnings and hatching of new life from eggs. These dire wolf pups have taken centre stage as popular cute bundles of joy.
If no one knows what a dire wolf is, then here goes: A dire wolf is a prehistoric animal that lived in North America during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene periods. They belong to the list of "megafauna" list of animals that lived during this time. The dire wolf became extinct 12,000 years ago, along with other megafauna that died off including Woolly Mammoths, Smilodon sabre-toothed cats, Megalodon sharks, Terror Birds, Hell Pigs and much more. Associated with the Ice Age, these enormous beasts died out at a similar time during climate change.
So the dire wolf has been made popular in recent times because of "Game of Thrones" that features several of them, which made people interested in the real world species that comes from the Ice Age. Dire wolves are very different to modern wolves. While modern wolves are from the genus Canis Lupus (and so are domestic dogs), the dire wolf is from Canis Dirus genus.
Many are afraid this has unlocked a Pandora's Box. Bringing back extinct animals from the Ice Age period when there are many modern animals on the verge of extinction is off. While Daenerys managed to bring back dragons to life from extinction using magic, science bringing back dire wolves from thousands of years into today's world feels wrong. There might be plans to help restore recent species that came close to extinction and even those that have suffered, such as the endangered Red Wolf. This is helpful. I do love these dire wolf puppies, aptly named Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi. But should they live in the wild? Well the scientists have said "no". I'm a nature lover, and not into Frankenstein science unless this research can help species on the planet.
She Wolf Night
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