(ORDO NEWS) — Recent studies have allowed scientists to discover evidence of the presence of ancient wolves in the Americas during the Pleistocene.
One of the specimens found at Medicine Hat in Canada has not been fully studied, but examination of its dentition indicates that it is the bone of a so-called “direwolf”.
The specimen is from 25,000 to 50,000 years old and consists of only one jawbone, including several teeth. Previously, this specimen was assigned to C. dirus, but new research has allowed scientists to identify it as a dire wolf.
As noted, the saber-toothed cat (Smilodon fatalis) has also been found in this region, which confirms the theory of the intersection of the ranges of this species and the dire wolf.
The latter turned out to have a wider range than previously thought, and it even migrated through the ice-free corridor connecting North America with Asia.
Comparative analysis of the putative dire wolf jaw bone, known as ROMVP 71618, with the bones of other members of this species and gray wolves led scientists to conclude that the dire wolf was significantly larger than the gray wolf.
This suggests that the sample taken for the study belonged to an older individual.
This jawbone specimen thus became the first confirmed record of a direwolf in Canada. It is worth noting that direwolves have no close living relatives and are not closely related to modern gray wolves.
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