George RR Martin, whose epic fantasy novels A Song of Ice and Fire inspired the famous TV series Game of Thrones, was part of the colossal project to revive the dire wolf and met the pups a few weeks back. He shared his excitement about the resurrection in a blog post, and talked about seeing the pups and how he had to keep mum about the return of the dire wolf. Notably, Martin was a cultural advisor and an investor in the project spearheaded by Colossal.

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Martin termed the day of the announcement, April 7, as Direwolf Day. " I've been holding my tongue for months now, sworn to silence yet dying to tell the world. Pardon my shouting, but... THE DIREWOLF IS BACK..." he wrote on Facebook.

Also Read: As dire wolves return, experts warn of a Jurassic Park-like scenario

He shared how he became part of the project after getting a call from Peter Jackson, a filmmaker in New Zealand. He told Martin to call a guy named Ben Lamm, who had "something huge he wanted to share". 

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“Extinct for more than ten thousand years, but extinct no longer, thanks to Ben Lamm, George Church, Beth Shapiro, and the rest of their team of mad scientists at Colossal," Martin added.

Martin's books brought back dire wolves

Martin's books that the popular show GoT was based on famously brought back the dire wolves as the sigil of House Stark. The writer was approached by the team of genetic engineers working on the de-extinction of the species. He acted as an advisor, and when the pups were ready, he met Romulus and Remus at a private preserve. A cute photoshoot shows the pups posing on the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones. The 330-pound prop was a loan by filmmaker Peter Jackson.

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Martin also shared a photo of him holding one of the dire wold pups in his arms. "I met them all in February, in… well, that would be telling. And I met Romulus and Remus too. Here’s me and Romulus. (Or maybe Remus. They’re twins, and hard to tell apart," the writer wrote.

Also Read: Scientists claim to have resurrected dire wolf. 'First successfully de-extincted animal'

Colossal co-founder Ben Lamm told CBR that meeting the pups made Martin emotional.  "I did fly George out to meet the Wolves, and he cried! He completely cried. He said this was like one of the greatest things that he's ever seen," he said.

Lamm also shared how the pups behaved in their initial days. He said they were like regular puppies, playful for some time. "But now they are acting more like wolves." 

"They're getting to the point that I wouldn't try to pet them or anything anymore," he added.

The three dire wolf puppies were created using genetic material from two dire wolf fossils. This included a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull. They combined it with the genome of a grey wolf to resurrect the long-extinct species.