Remus and Romulus

Shutterstock.com (background); Colossal Biosciences (dire wolves)

Article Options

Presentation View
Teaching Resources

Language

Should We Bring Back Extinct Animals?

September 8, 2025
By Cailin Loesch

As You Read, Think About: What extinct animal, if any, would you bring back? Why?

Animals of the Ice Age
Watch a video about the possibility of bringing back prehistoric animals.

Long ago, dire wolves roamed what is now North America. During the last ice age, these powerful animals used their strong jaws and huge teeth to feast on young woolly mammoths and other creatures. The fearsome predators died out more than 10,000 years ago. But now a company called Colossal Biosciences has brought back the extinct wolves—sort of.

Meet Remus and Romulus (above). The wolf pups were born last year. To bring them to life, scientists used DNA from a dire wolf tooth and skull and from modern-day gray wolves. (DNA is the material in cells that determines how living things look and function.) Though the new wolves have large skulls and white fur like dire wolves, they are not exact copies of the extinct creatures. Colossal plans to use a similar “de-extinction” process to create new versions of extinct animals like woolly mammoths and Tasmanian tigers.

Some people think bringing back extinct animals would be exciting and good for the environment. But others worry that de-extinction may do more harm than good.

Is bringing extinct creatures back to life a good idea?

Colossal Biosciences

Last year, experts at Colossal Biosciences created woolly mice (above) using DNA from a woolly mammoth (below). Colossal plans to use a similar process with elephants to create a mammoth-like animal.

Shutterstock.com

Woolly mammoth

Scientists from Colossal think de-extinction could one day be a big win for conservation.

“When species go extinct, they leave holes in ecosystems,” explains Beth Shapiro, a chief scientist at Colossal. “We have the ability to fill those holes.”

Take woolly mammoths, for instance. These shaggy beasts were extinct relatives of elephants. Mammoths were once a keystone species in the Arctic. That means they affected everything in their ecosystem. Colossal scientists say bringing mammoths back could benefit the plants and animals that live in the Arctic today. 

Plus, the Colossal team says, de-extinction technology could help endangered species. It might be used to change the DNA of animals to make them stronger and better able to fight diseases. 

“As we develop these tools, we will be able to use them to protect species that are alive from becoming extinct in the first place,” Shapiro says. 

Many experts point out that Colossal didn’t really bring back dire wolves. It made a new species. Some worry that this is a cruel experiment. The animals involved may face a lot of testing and suffer from health problems.

Others argue that these new species could harm the environment. It’s impossible to predict how they would behave or interact with other animals. 

People who are against de-extinction say it costs too much money. Since 2021, Colossal has raised more than $435 million for de-extinction efforts. Many say that money would be better spent on keeping endangered animals from dying out.  

“Some people might think we don’t need to worry about dying species because we can just bring them back one day,” says Jerry Coyne. He’s a retired professor at the University of Chicago. “And that’s wrong.”

More than 47,000 species are in danger of dying out.

Source: International Union for Conservation of Nature

What does your class think?

Is bringing extinct creatures back to life a good idea?

Please enter a valid number of votes for one class to proceed.

Is bringing extinct creatures back to life a good idea?

Please select an answer to vote.

Is bringing extinct creatures back to life a good idea?

0%
0votes
{{result.answer}}
Total Votes: 0
Thank you for voting!
Sorry, an error occurred and your vote could not be processed. Please try again later.

1. Based on the article, how did scientists create Remus and Romulus?

2. According to the “yes” side of the debate, how could de-extinction help today’s endangered species?

3. Why do some people argue that de-extinction is a “cruel experiment”?

videos (2)
videos (2)
Skills Sheets (3)
Skills Sheets (3)
Skills Sheets (3)
Games (1)
TEACHER SUPPORT (1)
Text-to-Speech