Dire Wolves Would Destroy Everything If Reintroduced In Wyoming, Biologists Say

There was a worldwide buzz created this week when a bioscience company announced it had managed to “de-extinct” dire wolves. But reintroducing dire wolves to Wyoming would probably be a terrible idea, wildlife biologists told Cowboy State Daily. 

Dire wolves went extinct about 12,500-13,000 years ago. They were bigger and stronger than modern gray wolves, built to prey on such lumbering behemoths as giant ground sloths. 

So, it’s likely these bigger, badder apex predators would tear right through contemporary prey species like elk, and probably bully gray wolves out of their current apex predator status. 

In other words, dire wolves probably wouldn’t gain many fans among Wyoming wildlife enthusiasts and ranchers. 

“If we can’t tolerate coyotes, and we certainly don’t tolerate gray wolves, there’s no way we could tolerate dire wolves,” said Robert Crabtree, the founder, chief scientist and president of the Yellowstone Ecological Research Center.

‘Incomplete Dire Wolf’

Colossal Biosciences, the company trying to genetically resurrect the wooly mammoth by 2028, announced on Monday that two pups with dire wolf genes created by the company were born in October 2024. 

The company named the white-haired pups Romulus and Remus. 

Though the pups carry dire wolf genes, they apparently aren’t quite the real deal, said Chuck Preston, who was the founding curator of the Draper Natural History Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody.

He added that if a breeding population of dire wolves was turned loose in the wild, things probably wouldn’t end well for all the other critters out there. 

“An incomplete genotype is an incomplete dire wolf,” he said of Romulus and Remus. 

The pups represent an “exciting breakthrough in molecular biology and genetics, but bringing back species that became extinct through natural selection is worrisome for current ecosystems,” Preston said. 

“I hope these animals live well in captivity for the rest of their lives,” he added. “I am intrigued by the possibility of bringing back a species that was extirpated by recent human activity, provided that we have a complete genotype, adequate genetic diversity, and historical ecosystem niche open.”

Gray Wolves Would Be In For A Fight

If dire wolves made a full comeback, gray wolves would lose their top-dog status, said Wyoming wildlife researcher Kristin Barker.

“I’m not sure how they (dire wolves) would fit into the current social and ecological landscape. There are a lot of existing challenges with the large carnivores that we do have,” she said. 

Gray wolves generally weigh 66-145 pounds, whereas dire wolves were about 125-175 pounds each. 

They are also thought to have had significantly stronger jaws than modern gray wolves. 

Though dire wolves and gray wolves probably share a common ancestor from millions of years back, they were essentially different species. 

Dire wolves were thought to have shared overlapping range with gray wolves in some places. 

Modern gray wolves are used to being at the top of the dog pile in the wild, dominating coyotes and other smaller canines. 

“They’re considered to be on top because everything that was bigger than them is gone,” Barker said. 

If dire wolves came back, gray wolves would likely be knocked down a peg, she said. Their relationship to dire wolves might be like coyotes’ current relationship to them. 

It could get rough for gray wolves, but Barker doesn’t think they’d be wiped out.

“Coyotes are really scrappy, and gray wolves can be scrappy too,” she said. “I think that gray wolves could survive in small pockets, but dire wolves would give them a run for their money.”

Mustang Control

Critics of Wyoming’s mustang herds argue that their numbers must be controlled, because they don’t have any effective natural predators.

Which raises the question, could a hypothetical dire wolf pack fill that role?

Preston said horses might have been on the dire wolf menu all those thousands of years ago.

But the North American horse species that lived back then were probably smaller than modern mustangs, he said.

So, whether dire wolves could bring down mustangs out in the Red Desert remains an open question.

Crabtree is doubtful that dire wolves would be a good choice for mustang control. 

“We don’t know if they (dire wolves) were capable of killing any horses other than foals,” he said.

Better Ways To Spend Money, Time

Preston and Barker said it might be interesting to ponder what a dire wolf comeback would look like, but in reality, it wouldn’t work. 

“It’s difficult to predict (what would happen) but I can’t help thinking about the ramifications,” Preston said.

Crabtree said that the dire wolf experiment is “another technical monument to mankind,” with money and effort that could have been better spent trying to conserve existing habitat and species. 

“We don’t even know the habitat that dire wolves persisted in,” so there’s no way of knowing what they’d need to thrive today, he added. 

‘Add To The Hybrid Swarm’

When it comes to creating canine species that fill a useful role, nature and evolution are already doing that, Crabtree said. 

He recalled being involved in a failed effort to bring back red wolves in North Carolina in the mid-1980s. 

That failed because the habitat that red wolves had thrived in just didn’t exist anymore. 

Similarly, dire wolves went extinct “for natural reasons” having to do with the loss of habitat and a viable prey base, he said.
Part of the reason for trying to bring red wolves back was to control exploding white-tailed deer populations back East, he said. 

But lately, nature has been taking care of that, through the emergence of so-called “Coy Wolves.”

Those are a hybrid species containing mixed genes of coyotes, domestic dogs and perhaps wolves. 

Coy wolves have proven effective in preying on white-tailed deer, in an environment where genetically pure red wolves couldn’t make it, Crabtree said. 

That’s better than trying to bring back extinct species such as dire wolves, he said. 

“Add to the hybrid swarm, let them go,” he said. Assist evolution to create a candid that’s going to fit in this modern ecosystem.”

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.