Vaks The Mutt

"Its a whole 10°c out so we shall go outside and spend time in the sun and so my active little herding dogs can sniff and play and scamper."

Photo of my active little herding dogs, allegedly scampering:

okay i know i said that i was done with the dire wolf thing but i want to summarize everything so that all of the information about why this is bullshit is in one place.

if you haven't heard, a company called colossal biosciences has claimed that they resurrected the dire wolf, an extinct canine that has not existed for >10,000 years. colossal is known for other stunts like claiming that they'll bring back the woolly mammoth (though their eyesore of a website makes it clear that they just mean genetically modifying asian elephants) and the dodo. colossal posted this on their instagram announcing the "resurrection."

now, there's a couple of things wrong right off the bat. this post is intentionally misleading- it strongly implies that dire wolf dna was used to clone a dire wolf or inserted into the dna of a proxy species, but neither is true. these pups are, in fact, just gray wolves that have been genetically modified to look like what colossal claims dire wolves looked like. they're just designer dogs- only 14 genes were edited and domestic dogs were used as the surrogate. it's important to note that colossal is the source for the claim that dire wolf dna shows they were white and gray wolf-like. i'll elaborate on the issues with that later.

this post is also factually wrong. there was actually another animal resurrected from extinction- although she died not long after her birth, a pyrenean ibex was cloned and born alive over 20 years ago. this means the pyrenean ibex is the first animal ever resurrected from extinction and also probably the only animal to ever go extinct twice.

there's a number of problems with what colossal is doing here. the first one is that the claims that dire wolves were close relatives to gray wolves and that dire wolves were white and fluffy gray wolf-like canines come from the company itself. however, both of these claims are contradictory to statements by experts and research outside of the company, and as far as i know colossal has NOT submitted their research for peer review. even scientists who accept colossal's statement about what dire wolves looked like agree that these are not dire wolves or relatives. a 2021 study on dire wolf dna suggested that dire wolves were NOT closely related to gray wolves. in fact, their closest relative may be african jackals. this study's results also suggested that the new revelations about dire wolf classification may mean reconsidering what dire wolves looked like. you'll notice that the previous link i just posted mentions the dire wolves in game of thrones as being an example of a possibly incorrect representation of the real thing. strangely, colossal's claims of what dire wolves looked like suggest that game of thrones dire wolves are accurate. even more strangely, george r.r. martin is an investor and "cultural advisor" in the company and has taken photos with the fake dire wolf pups. could they be right about what dire wolves looked like? maybe. it’s not like i know for sure. but george r.r. martin's personal involvement constitutes a conflict of interest in my opinion and i’m suspicious that their findings just so happen to align with what one of the iconic game of thrones dire wolves looks like. also for some reason the cia is also an investor in the company? i have no idea if the cia thing is relevant but it does seem sketchy- the cia apparently has interest in their gene-editing technology. which is like a whole new rabbit hole. why does the cia need that?

"so what, kraken? aren't they just doing this to get money for conservation?" well...no. probably not. colossal's awful website does emphasize claims of and statistics about conservation quite a bit, their technology may have conservation implications and they are partnered with actual conservation organizations, but colossal's own stated goals and interests and their behavior on social media (as well as the fact that they have commercial gene therapy technology available and are invested in by grrm and like. the cia for some probably not good reason) leads me to believe that these people are either grifters or really fucking dumb. the only conservation project for extant animals that colossal's website goes into any detail about (at least as far as i could find- the website is full of a lot of fluff and buzzwords and for some reason has like a whole section on the apollo mission at one point?) is one related to elephant herpes, which is a disease that accounts for a lot of elephant mortality, so that is great, but colossal's website also states that part of their investment in combating this disease is that they want to preserve asian elephants for their woolly mammoth project. i believe that their proclaimed investment in conservation is a lie to maintain good will and legitimate partners for their absurd projects rather than the other way around. i would go so far as to say that it is their partners who are having to put up with corporate nonsense to get resources rather than colossal.

colossal has also blatantly lied about species definition online. here are two of the claims that they have made.

this is blatantly and purposefully untruthful and is someone manipulating facts to tell lies. yes, species definitions can have pitfalls (like the ability of related but distinct species to interbreed, which contradicts species definitions that include reproductive isolation), and morphology is a tool used in taxonomy. but to say that "everyone can be right" and that "genetically is not how species are defined" is completely false. science is about making decisions based on evidence, not just "well you know everyone is right if you think about it and this definition is more convenient so we prefer it!” genetic testing is now a primary way that species are classified and morphological classifications are frequently overridden by genetic ones. in fact, the dire wolf itself was reclassified based on genetics. one of the sources i linked above explicitly states that while morphology is a taxonomical tool, the morphological classification of dire wolves as being canis dogs was overwhelmed by dna evidence. convergent evolution is very much a thing, y’all. colossal is even contradicting themselves here- they claim that their gray wolves are dire wolves because they (allegedly) "look and act" like dire wolves, and yet in the same comment describe polar bears, which are behaviorally, ecologically and morphologically distinct from brown bears, as essentially just being the same thing. lying about science does not advance science. lying about science creates public distrust and confusion that hinders the efforts of scientists and conservationists.

however, perhaps the smoking gun on colossal's role in conservation is a very recent event. according to this screenshot from reddit, colossal biosciences retweeted this:

i have also personally confirmed that they have also put part of this tweet on their website as a testimonial:

what does this mean? well, doug burgum is a trump appointee with fossil fuel ties who has already moved to weaken climate protections and protections for the endangered species he and colossal care oh-so-much about. it doesn't take much reading between the lines of doug's tweet to tell that he doesn't want the endangered species list gone because he wants a world where it's no longer necessary, he wants it gone because he wants to deregulate our environment for his fossil fuel buddies and say it's no big deal to lose a species because we can just bring it back later (we can't right now, and even if we can in the future, bringing back a species means fucking jackshit if the planet isn't habitable. protecting habitats, fighting fossil fuels and working for a more sustainable future are vital parts of conservation). so why on earth would colossal co-sign this? maybe it has something to do with the fact their "serial entrepreneur" founder has been on joe rogan. you know, that guy who's super keen on scientific accuracy and never platforms like anti-vaxxers or transphobes or the vice president of the united states who is both of those things or anything.

as an aside, i really recommend looking at colossal's website and comparing it to the websites for conservation efforts by zoos or other groups. i think you will find that colossal's website (which has some quirks that make me think it might not have been proofread) is visually overwhelming and really seems like it's padding for time and space compared to, for example, this page from the saint louis zoo about hellbender conservation or this page from the amphibian foundation. or the entire buffalo nations grasslands alliance website (psst, btw, while colossal has been buddying up to the trump administration, bnga is trying to fundraise after having their funding frozen by it. you can donate to them here or to the limited-time emergency fund at the top of the page).

so yeah, in conclusion, they're not dire wolves, the evidence that they even look like dire wolves is sketchy, colossal probably doesn't care that much about conservation, and we can all stop pretending this means fucking anything good now. thank you!!

I love when my borzoi does the thing

Did u guys know Echo is Krampus’ half sister (same dad)? The borzoi world is teeny tiny!

Forget cheese face, the new hot thing is celery face

She’s busy enjoying retirement

Just a baby being a baby chewing a bully stick

Breaking news from the @starfoozle - @suzirya household: this delightful little beast is named Junie and, should everything go according to plan, she should be coming home to live with us full-time this summer. :)

if i see one more person claiming that lying about the basic definition of "species", rubbing elbows with joe rogan and spreading misinformation is going to somehow be good for conservation im going to end up on the fucking news

"but red wolves-" their red wolf project isn't even based on actual red wolves. they are basing it on coyotes with trace amounts of red wolf dna.

if you want to support red wolf conservation, look into actual reintroduction efforts and breeding programs instead

i have said this several times in the last few days but i have zero faith in someone who says something like this. even if they are just doing it to get funds, they are still spreading blatant misinformation.

also we already have people in the us government trying to remove endangered species protections as a direct result of the shit they're saying. like, if they really do give a shit about endangered species, i imagine they'd be trying to correct that. but they aren't.

I used to intern here, and they have a legitimate captive breeding program for red wolves:

They even have a post on their website written by one of their senior research scientists about the cloning of red wolves and why that just isn’t helpful or the way to go with red wolf conservation.

He heard there would be snacks

Out of ratrimony, if you will.

Sometimes you earn off-leash privileges

Today Vaks is having cataracts surgery. He was approved yesterday and we know he can see "under" it.

Please keep all your fingers crossed for us.

Update, surgery went well and he is currently waking up ❤️

Now he just needs to recover, which is most unstable for the next 24 hours (usually is with eyes) so control day tomorrow with the vet and then he'll need care for 2-3 weeks. Should be alright, we do that at home.

He'll be able to see again though, which is gonna make a huge difference in what's left of his wonderfully active life ;-;

happy gotcha day Brick 💙☀️

I love having a cat because who else will sit with me for four hours solid while I sort aquarium gravel by colour composition surface texture and patina

Sometimes he tries to eat the rocks but I've honed my reflexes to a razor's edge for just such an occasion