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| Beringian Wolf v Dire Wolf | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 7 2014, 10:15 PM (5,146 Views) | |
| Taipan | May 7 2014, 10:15 PM Post #1 |
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Beringian Wolf - Canis lupus The Beringian wolf was a hypercarnivorous ecomorph of gray wolf which inhabited eastern Beringia during the Late Pleistocene. Its mtDNA haplotypes did not correspond to any found in modern North American gray wolf populations, thus indicating that modern North American gray wolves are not descended from it. Its phylogeny indicates that, aside from Canis lupus pallipes, the Beringian wolf's unique haplotypes are basal to other gray wolves, and are shared only with extinct European and modern Italian wolf populations. Although similar in size to modern Alaskan gray wolves, its skull had a short, broad palate and relatively large carnassials, giving it an exceptionally powerful bite. This feature was not shared by other extant and extinct North American gray wolves, thus indicating that the Beringian wolf was a specialized predator and scavenger of Pleistocene megafauna. This is confirmed by the stable isotopes found in its bone collagen, with the most frequent values corresponding to wild horse and bison. Additionally, Beringian wolf skulls display a much greater degree of tooth wear and fracture than in extant grey wolf populations and slightly more than in dire wolves. Although the gray wolf occurred throughout Pleistocene North America, the Beringian ecomorph never expanded its range below the Wisconsin ice sheet, probably due to the presence of dire wolves, which had already appropriated the niche of specialized megafaunal predators. Dire Wolf - Canis dirus The Dire wolf (Canis dirus) is an extinct carnivorous mammal of the genus Canis, and was most common in North America and South America from the Irvingtonian stage to the Rancholabrean stage of the Pleistocene epoch living 1.80 Ma – 10,000 years ago, existing for approximately 1.79 million years. lthough it was closely related to the Gray Wolf and other sister species, Canis dirus was not the direct ancestor of any species known today. Unlike the Gray Wolf, which is of Eurasian origin, the Dire Wolf evolved on the North American continent, along with the Coyote. The Dire Wolf co-existed with the Gray Wolf in North America for about 100,000 years. he Dire Wolf was larger than the Gray Wolf, averaging about 1.5 metres (5 ft) in length and weighing between 50 kg (110 lb) and 79 kg (174 lb). Despite superficial similarities to the Gray Wolf, there were significant differences between the two species. The legs of the Dire Wolf were proportionally shorter and sturdier than those of the Gray Wolf, and its brain case was smaller than that of a similarly sized gray wolf. The Dire Wolf's teeth were similar to the Gray Wolf's, only slightly larger, pointing to a hypercarnivorous to mesocarnivorous activity. Paleontologist R.M. Nowak states the dietary characteristics are primarily carnivorous as well as partially omnivorous. ![]() |
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| Mauro20 | Apr 2 2018, 10:35 AM Post #16 |
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Badass
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You don't want to mess with my powers of necromancy, dude. |
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