Photo credit: Colossal Biosciences

Romulus and Remus are doing what any playful pups do—chasing each other through the grass, tussling, nipping, and nuzzling. But look a little closer, and you’ll notice something… different. These “puppies” are nearly 4 feet long, already pushing 80 pounds at just six months old. They’re not wagging their tails at humans or begging for belly rubs, either. In fact, they keep their distance, flinching if you get too close.

Why? Because Romulus and Remus aren’t dogs. They’re wolves. Dire wolves, to be exact. As in, the ancient predators that haven’t walked this Earth in more than 10,000 years—until now.

In a stunning leap straight out of science fiction, biotech company Colossal Biosciences has done the unthinkable: they’ve brought an extinct species back to life.

“You’re hearing the first howl of a dire wolf in over 10,000 years,” the company wrote in a now-viral post, sharing video of the two massive pups. Born October 1, 2024, Romulus and Remus are the world’s first de-extinct animals. And if that sounds mind-blowing—it is.

The journey to this moment started with fossils, some dating back over 70,000 years. Using ancient DNA, Colossal painstakingly reconstructed the dire wolf genome. From there, they took the genetic code of a gray wolf and edited it—CRISPR-style—until it matched its long-lost ancestor. Surrogate dog moms carried the embryos, and three separate births later, Romulus, Remus, and their younger sister Khaleesi were born.

TIME got a rare (and secretive) look at the wolf brothers this March at a U.S. wildlife facility. The exact location? Strictly under wraps—to keep the pups safe from curious humans.

And dire wolves are just the beginning. Colossal, which launched in 2021 and now boasts a team of 130 scientists, is gunning to bring back other extinct species too: the woolly mammoth, the dodo, and the thylacine (aka the Tasmanian tiger) are all on the list. In fact, they recently unveiled a “woolly mouse”—a lab-born mouse with mammoth traits like thick fur and a metabolism built for cold weather.

If all of this sounds a little too Jurassic Park for comfort, Colossal has an answer: this isn’t just spectacle, it’s science with a purpose. The same tools used to bring back extinct animals could help save the ones we’re losing right now. Think stronger elephants modeled after mammoths. Or helping the endangered red wolf through lessons learned from the dire wolf.

“We are an evolutionary force at this point,” says Colossal’s chief science officer, Beth Shapiro. And she’s not wrong. With up to 30% of the planet’s genetic diversity projected to vanish by 2050, Shapiro and Colossal’s CEO Ben Lamm say it’s time we use our “big brains” to undo some of the environmental damage humans have caused. Not just for novelty—but as a moral responsibility.

So next time you hear a distant, haunting howl, imagine this: it might not just be a wolf. It could be the echo of a species that’s been silent for 10 millennia—until now.