In Dire Straits: The Resurrection and Extraction of the Dire Wolf, and the Current Colonial Basis of De-extinction Science

In April of 2025, the for-profit biotech company Colossal Biosciences garnered mass media attention by announcing they had “de-extincted” the dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus) with the use of CRISPR gene-editing technology. Colossal and others heralded it as the future of endangered species conservation. In response, many in the larger scientific and conservation communities qualified or dismissed the claims to de-extinction based on sound genomic, phylogenetic, and taxonomic evidence. This debate, however, has occurred almost entirely within the confines of Western science and epistemology. We expand these critiques by highlighting the colonial, eugenic, and anthropocentric ideologies prevalent in Colossal’s approach to de-extinction, exemplified by what we call a “colonial grabbag” mythological framing of wolves. We argue that this is reflective of the larger colonial basis of current de-extinction science. Grounded in the fields of Indigenous Science and Animal Studies, we invite further reflection on the strategic, ethical, and moral considerations of de-extinction. Rather than arguing that such technologies and aims should be categorically rejected, we offer recommendations toward an anti-colonial and anti-anthropocentric science of de-extinction that is based in equity, reciprocity, and collective social good. We propose 1) a shift away from the isolationist approach that “resurrects” a species without regard for the larger ecosystem in which they existed in favor of a holistic ecology; 2) focusing the tools of de-extinction on currently threatened and endangered species and ecosystems; and 3) centering Indigenous Science and place-based knowledges by practicing transparent and sustained consultation and collaboration with Indigenous Nations.