A team of paleontologists recently analyzed the jawbone of an ancient large predator discovered in what is now Alberta, Canada, in the late 1960s. This work confirmed that it was the remains of a giant wolf. What do we know about these ancient creatures?
Canis dirus, also known as the giant wolf, was an extinct species of canid that lived primarily in the Americas during the Pleistocene, about 1.8 million to 11,000 years ago. These predators that inspired those in Games of Thrones were significantly larger than modern wolves. They had a massive body and very powerful jaws that enabled them to hunt large prey such as bison, moose, and even mammoths. They were also very agile and could move quickly.
Note that despite their name, giant wolves are not not closely related to modern wolves. They are actually part of a separate branch of the Canidae family. However, they were closely related to other canids of the time, such as the coyote and gray fox.
That being said, we know these wolves weren’t unique to America. The gigantic head of one of these 32,000-year-old animals was actually discovered in Siberia a few years ago. More recently, paleontologists also identified the remains of one of these animals in China.
Giant Wolves in Canada
Indeed, the fact that they were mainly found on the plains of what is now the United States and Asia suggested that these wolves may have used an ice-free corridor to traverse the Canadian region of Alberta and then Alaska, which connects North America to Asia . However, until now, evidence of the presence of these giant wolves in the region has been lacking, hence the interest in this new work.
A few decades ago, researchers in Medicine Hat, in southern Canada, actually came across the jaws of one specimen. However, this bone had never been fully described. Now it’s done. Details of the study are published in the Journal of Quaternary Science.
Comparison between the three wolf jaws. Photo credit: Reynold et al. (2023)
As part of this work, researchers performed anatomical comparisons of this bone with the remains of several other specimens. They then confirmed that it was much larger than the expected length of a gray wolf’s jaw. In other words, it was actually a giant wolf bone, the only one of its kind confirmed in Canada to date.
Analysis of this bone also shows that it was a older person, because the teeth are badly worn. The specimen designated ROMVP 71618 is believed to have lived there. 25,000 to 50,000 years ago. Other fossils discovered in the area suggest these wolves shared this ancient territory with saber-toothed tigers (Smilodon fatalis).