With “Dire Wolves” No Longer Extinct, Elon Musk Now Wants a Pet Woolly Mammoth

In the ever-escalating race between science fiction and reality, Elon Musk has once again taken to the internet with a typically bizarre request: a pet woolly mammoth; the miniature kind, naturally.

This came in response to a headline-grabbing announcement from Texas-based biotech company Colossal Biosciences, claiming to have achieved the “world’s first de-extinction.” The subject of this resurrection? Three genetically engineered wolf pups created to mimic the long-extinct dire wolf, an Ice Age predator made pop culture-famous by Game of Thrones.

These snowy-furred, sharp-jawed pups were brought to life using cutting-edge gene-editing techniques. According to the company, the project aims to bolster conservation through "genetic rescue." Critics, however, might argue it sounds a lot more like designer nostalgia coupled to a plot straight out of a Jurassic Park film. 

Naturally, Musk couldn’t resist the opportunity to stir the pot. Sharing images of the pups, including a dramatic Time magazine cover with “Extinct” crossed out and another with the pups perched atop the Iron Throne, he added a request - “Please make a miniature pet woolly mammoth.”

For some context, Woolly mammoths titants of the ice Age. Standing up to 13 feet tall, 6 tons heavy, and built for survival in brutal cold. Think of them as the cold-weather cousins of today’s elephants, sporting thick fur, fatty insulation, compact ears, and massive spiralling tusks that could top 15 feet. 

Their extinction came about 4,000 years ago, and they have served as both scientific curiosities and cultural icons since. While their on-screen personas are heartwarming to witness, bringing back a mammoth is no easy feat.  

The science behind such a de-extinction involves cloning and hybridization, which is expensive; not to mention the ethical (or lack thereof) aspects of such a process. Since Colossal is already working on mammoth de-extinction too, who knows? Perhaps a woolly mammoth posing beside a Cybertruck isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds after all.