Overview

• Romulus and Remus reached their first birthday at roughly 115–120 pounds, with staff reporting emerging hunting behavior and a developing social hierarchy after summer introductions to their sister, Khaleesi.
• Colossal marked the milestone with a dog-safe, three-tiered cake from San Francisco bakery Mishka and a rock anthem by Stan Bush and Lenny Macaluso released in a celebratory video.
• The animals live on a more than 2,000-acre preserve certified by the American Humane Society and registered with the USDA, where veterinarians, cameras, drones and full-time staff monitor their health and behavior.
• Chief science officer Beth Shapiro said the germline edits worked as expected and the animals are healthy, describing roughly 20 edits across 14 genes guided by an ancient dire-wolf genome and gestation via surrogate dogs.
• Colossal says it plans to expand the group to as many as eight engineered canids, while outside experts, including the IUCN Canid Specialist Group, maintain the animals are gene-edited gray wolves rather than true or proxy dire wolves.