The Evolution & History of Wolves

The wolf is a product of 63 million years of carnivore evolution. It is a deadly hunter and a very social creature. It hunts in packs in order to bring down large prey, and is well adapted to its environment. Some of the most recent evolutionary ancestors are the Dire Wolf (Canis dirus) and the Canis ambrusteri, a large wolf that lived throughout North America. Some of the closest relatives of the wolf are domestic dogs, coyotes, and foxes.

The animal that nearly all canids are descended from is the Tomarctus, which lived about 16-20 million years ago. The Canis edwardii is the first canid clearly identifiable as a wolf, which evolved in the early Pleistocene period about 1.5 million years ago. In the mid Pleistocene period (around eight hundred thousand years ago) the Dire wolf  came about. At one point it lived alongside the smaller Grey wolf, but did not survive the mass extinctions of the most recent ice age. 

Dire wolf Canis dirus  (extinct)

The Dire Wolf, more muscular and heavier than the Grey wolf, evolved earlier, and the two co existed in North America for about 400,000 years.  As its prey became extinct around 16,000 years ago due to climatic change, the dire wolf gradually became extinct itself.  Around 7,000 years ago, the Grey wolf became the prime canine predator in North America.  The Dire wolf has no known descendent alive today with the possible exception of the South American Bush Dog.

They were  abundant approximately 10,000 years ago, and became extinct along with most other North American giant animals (megafauna).  The vast majority of fossils recovered have been from the La Brea Tar Pits in California and in Florida.  It averaged about 1.5 metres (5 feet) in length and weighed about 50 kilograms (110 pounds), though large specimens may have weighed as much as 80kg (175 pounds).  Some Grey wolves were taller, and they all were faster than this fellow.

The Dire wolf had a larger, broader head and smaller brain-case than that of a similarly-sized Grey wolf, and had teeth that were quite massive.  Many paleontologists think that the Dire Wolf may have used its relatively large teeth to crush bone, an idea that is supported by the frequency of large amounts of wear on the crowns of their fossilized teeth.  Dire wolf skeletons have been found bearing healed and half-healed injuries similar to the ones found on modern wolves who have been injured while hunting large prey, indicating the Dire wolf also hunted large, live prey.

In total, fossils from more than 3,600 individual Dire wolves have been recovered from the tar pits, more than any other mammal species. This large number suggests that the Dire wolf, like other Canines, probably hunted in packs.  It also gives some insight into the pressures placed on this species near the end of its existence.

The Dire wolf never made it to Asia even when there was a land bridge in Berengia.  It was a warm-weather animal, used to the thick tropical and sub-tropical forests, and had little inclination to venture into the icy north country plains and tundra where huge herds of Bison and Caribou might have saved it from extinction.  No remains of this wolf have ever been found in northern Canada.  Where Grey wolves followed migrating herds, the Dire wolf would have been stationary thereby limiting its food source to its known territory.  When its prey died off, it disappeared also.