Nowak states the dietary characteristics are primarily carnivorous as well as partially omnivorous. The Dire Wolf's teeth were similar to the Gray Wolf's, only slightly larger, pointing to a hyper carnivorous to mesocarnivorous activity. Dire Wolves also had shorter fur than gray wolves.Ī Dire Wolf skeleton found at the La Brea Tar Pits Dentition The legs of the Dire Wolf were proportionally shorter and sturdier than those of the Gray Wolf, and its braincase was smaller than that of a similarly sized gray wolf. Despite similarities to the Gray Wolf, there were significant differences between the two species. The Dire Wolf was larger than the Gray Wolf, averaging about 1.5 meters (5 feet) in length and weighing between 50 kilograms (110 lbs) and more than 79 kilograms (174 lbs). Linck at the mouth of Pigeon Creek along the Ohio River near Evansville, Indiana The first specimen of a Dire Wolf was found by Francis A. Approximately 10,000 years ago the Dire Wolf became extinct along with most another North American megafauna The Dire Wolf was one of the abundant Pleistocene megafauna-a wide variety of very large mammals that lived during the Pleistocene. Dire wolves and Gray wolves coexisted in North America for about 100,000 years. It was once thought that Aenocyon dirus was a relative of the gray wolf and sister species, but in 2021, evidence was shown that it was actually part of a now extinct clade native to the Americas that diverged after Cerdocyonina, but before the other members of Canina. Life restoration of Dire Wolves ( Aenocyon dirus) fighting off Gray Wolves in Southwestern North America The Dire wolf was once thought to be the largest species of the genus of Canis known to have existed, though genetic analysis in 2021 strongly suggests it belongs to its own genus Aenocyon, showing that its similarities to true wolves were merely a case of convergent evolution.Įcological factors such as habitat type, climate, prey specialization, and predatory competition have been shown to greatly influence gray wolf craniodental plasticity, which is an adaptation of the cranium and teeth due to the influences of the environment.ĭire wolf remains have been found across a broad range of habitats including the plains, grasslands, and some forested mountain areas of North America, the arid savannah of South America, and the steppes of eastern Asia.ĭuring the Quaternary extinction event around 12,700 YBP, 90 genera of mammals weighing over 44 kilograms (97 lbs) became extinct. Dire wolves are iconic beasts a recent study of Dire wolf genetics has startled paleontologists: it found that these animals were not wolves at all, but rather the last of a different canine lineage that evolved in North America.įrom the 1850s, the fossil remains of extinct large wolves were being found in the United States, and it was not immediately clear that these all belonged to one species. They may even have had larger packs than modern wolves.ĭire Wolves Were Not Really Wolves, New Genetic Clues Reveal. Aenocyon dirus disappeared with the extinction of the megafauna about 10 thousand years ago. Dire Wolves were theorized as being social as gray wolves based on the fossil recoveries, among the subfamilies of the wolf (Caninae). In general, the skull of this species looks like a very large canine skull.īeing stronger, heavier and therefore more powerful, they could hunt very large prey, like the ice age megafauna, while lightly built gray wolves generally attacked the smaller prey. The molar teeth of the predator were more massive in comparison with those of modern wolves. Generally, Dire Wolves were different from grey wolves. Homeland gray wolves were Eurasian, and the "Dire Wolf" is a type formed in North America. Morphologically, Dire Wolves were similar to wolves, in anatomy, but these two species are not as closely related as it may seem at first glance. The Dire Wolves were the size of the largest eurasian wolves ( Canis lupus) and weighed, depending on gender and individual differences, 55 to 80 kilograms. They lived alongside another megafauna such as the Short-faced bear, Mammoth, and Smilodon among others.Īenocyon dirus meaning "Terrible Wolf" was one of the largest canines that ever lived on Earth, and also one of the largest representatives of the subfamily of canids (Specifically the subfamily of Caninae). The Dire Wolf ( Aenocyon dirus) is an extinct carnivorous mammal of the genus Aenocyon and was most common in North America and South America from the Cenozoic Irvingtonian stage to the Rancholabrean stage of the Pleistocene epoch living 1.80 million years ago – 10,000 years ago, existing for approximately 1.79 million years.
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