The reported resurrection of the long-extinct dire wolf is a significant scientific development, but the animal appears more like a genetically altered gray wolf and not the species that existed thousands of years ago, a Northeastern expert says.

“There is real technological innovation here,” says Ronald Sandler, a professor of philosophy and director of the Ethics Institute at Northeastern University.

“It’s a genetically modified gray wolf that has some amazing genetic and morphological features because they’ve not been instantiated for thousands of years,” he says. “But the important question to ask is not whether these are dire wolves, but rather how these biotechnology innovations advance ongoing conservation efforts for existing species.”

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