Is the once-extinct dire wolf really back or did some of the science reporting go too far?

A biotechnology company claims to have resurrected the dire wolf, a species that went extinct over 10,000 years ago .

The resulting media frenzy provides a fascinating case study of science journalism, says Julian Zelizer .

Zelizer: It’s important to consider how sausage-engineered claims like this is made, and I mean the actual wolves are not like this.

Colossal reached out to a relatively few handpicked journalists or publications who agreed to an embargo specifying when the publication of articles could occur.

Colossal would have met out interviews to its chosen journalists by phone, video call, or in person.

The company had to arrange times for the journalists to come see the two males in their enclosure.

Colossal ’s leaders have said that the animals they create are not just “curios” but are meant to be reintroduced to the landscape so they can fulfill the same ecosystem functions as they did in the past.

But the three wolf clones will not be rewilded. They will live out their lives in pampered confinement.