This quote rubs me as being disrespectful or something of the expertise of taxonomists when it comes to taxonomy....
Image description: screenshot of a section of an email that reads: "Quote of the day
“If we can look at this animal and see what it’s doing, and it looks like a dire wolf and acts like a dire wolf, I’m going to call it a dire wolf. And my colleagues who are taxonomists will disagree with me.”
Beth Shapiro, the chief science officer of Colossal Biosciences, acknowledges the debate over the company’s efforts to ‘de-extinct’ animals — such as its latest headline-grabber, a wolf genetically edited to have some characteristics of the extinct dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus). (Wired | 12 min read)"
The article referenced in the quote above:
Startup Colossal Biosciences has edited the DNA of a gray wolf to produce what it says is a de-extincted animal. Does that make it a true di