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Colossal Biosciences has announced the successful resurrection of a set of Dire Wolves that have officially been extinct for 10-13,000 years. Time Magazine reported how the company can now “summon back species from the dead,” which “could prevent existing but endangered animals from slipping into extinction themselves.” Colossal Biosciences plans to birth a Mammoth by late 2028, having already in March announced it had copied mammoth DNA to create a woolly mouse,” which is admittedly a “chimeric critter.” In other words, as with the dire wolves, it’s a mix of various pieces merged into one, i.e., it’s a manmade creation. As Time reports, the company “rewrote the genetic code of the common gray wolf to match it [dire wolf], and, using domestic dogs as surrogate mothers,” resurrected the dead. Since April is the anniversary of the founding of the city of Rome in roughly 753 BCE it’s all the more interesting that the company name their wolves after Romulus and Remus. One question is left unaddressed among the spectacle, magic, science, and obvious questions of morality or playing god: how do we define extinction or endangered. It’s simple; the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which once defined the former term as an animal not spotted in 50 years, now says an animal is extinct if there is “no reasonable doubt that the last individual member has died.” Better yet, these observations are often made not by the IUCN, but by citizens, as is common for bird watchers. The conservation status of each animal, plant and fungi species is compiled by the IUCN in what is called the "Red List,” which has over 41,000 species. And it is this arbitrary list which gives moral licensing and justification to those like Colossal Bioscences.  

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