Colossal Biosciences dire wolf project

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/romulus--remus--and-khaleesi

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific name of extinct dire wolf?Aenocyon dirus
2. What is the scientific name of modern gray wolf?Canis lupus
3. What is the dire wolf project?It is a science plan to make a gray wolf look like the old, big dire wolf by changing its genes.
4. How do scientists try to make a dire wolf look like the old one?They look at old DNA pieces, find the genes that made the dire wolf big and strong, and use tools like CRISPR to change those genes in a gray wolf.

De-extinction: The process of reviving extinct species through scientific intervention, often involving genetic technologies.
Paleogenomics: The study of ancient DNA to understand the genomes of extinct organisms and their evolutionary history.
Epigenetics: The study of heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve alterations to the underlying DNA sequence.