You remember, right? They were created through gene editing. Almost immediately, the debate kicked off: is this really de-extinction? Are they really dire wolves? Of course, dire wolves are fictional creatures, while “de-extinction” is a neologism that can be interpreted more or less strictly. To avoid getting stuck in a semantic argument, let’s just say this was a case of recovering selected genetic traits from the genome of an extinct species that later inspired a sci-fi series. Setting the terminology aside, a year on from the New Yorker and Time articles, the real question is: how are these very special pups doing?

Largely ignored by mainstream media, Romulus and Remus have grown into impressive animals. They’ve started hunting their first prey, refining their techniques through trial and error, and have been reunited with she/wolf Khaleesi, the youngest of the group. The project plans to produce more pups in the future, although no detailed updates have been released so far.

In the meantime, the curious can keep following video updates on Colossal’s social channels and see how the company’s experts respond to followers’ questions, some of them more unusual than others. In the opening photo, Khaleesi is shown ducking under a log, while Romulus jumps over it (credit: Colossal Biosciences).