I'm absolutely positive they do.
www.outdoorlife.com
I think there was a series of movies about this Jurassic something or others…. I’m sure it will be different this time
Similarly to what Colossal has going, that was a nightmare waiting to happen when the hybrids break through a captive fence. Colossal and scientists needs to research this for 20+ years before they decide to do something hasty and screw everything up. Cool idea, somewhat. Needs years and years of proving before I personally would be supportive of using cloned animals to augment populations. Red wolves are a bit interesting because we do have red wolves in captivity so we could use CRISPR with direct red wolf DNA rather than what they did with these Dire Wolves, but it still has me on edge and I wouldn’t support it until we had a large research base behind it like using captive red wolves to simulate a population inside a fence and make sure the genes are not being wiped out by the cloned wolves. Just overall seems way way too hasty to be making some of the claims that they are talking about.I'm absolutely positive they do.
And that's why they're doing it.
Too bad this guy wasn't a connected billionaire.
Montana Man Sentenced to 6 Months in Prison for Smuggling, Cloning, and Breeding Giant Hybrid Sheep
An 81-year-old man was sentenced to six months in prison for his yearslong effort to create giant hybrid sheep for captive hunting operations.
That's what I was thinking... Maybe something like Wilma and Betty from the Flintstones.
I am interested as well considering Red Wolves. So would genetically modifying this species increase their odds of making it? If so I am begging for genetically modified southern ruffed grouse
Honestly I have no clue. The genetic bottleneck is pretty bad from what I hear so it would likely be extremely helpful but I am not sure if they have the habitat to make it. Lots of fragmentation and people that don’t like carnivores. Not sure on the ruffed grouse front, are they doing badly? Seems like they would be more likely to make it. It’s just whether or not the genetic stuff they’re doing is successful and doesn’t result in other consequences of changing the gene.
dallasinnovates.com
Colossal targeted genes that affect phenotype: the observable characteristics of the dire wolf —in this case, mostly its appearance. The company’s scientists edited genes (I think maybe 14 total) that affect fur color and thickness and body size, as well as skull, ear and facial shape. The Dire wolf DNA was too degraded to actually replicate, from what I have been able to understand. This technology is definitely not ready to help out bringing the Red Wolf (or any species for that matter) back from the BRINK of extinction. Cloning of different red wolf DNA may be more viable at this point, don’t know. But whenever a species is re-introduced, the gene pool needs to be monitored closely and from time to time will need an “infusion” to avoid problematic in-breeding.
