Past+animal+-+Dire+Wolf

To Future animal - The Night Dingo --To Present animal - the Dingo

= **__The Dire Wolf__** =

By:Keith Lai

 The Dire Wolf (//Canis dirus)// is recognised as one of the closest extinct animal related to the dingo. The dire wolf is known to be the largest canid to have ever existed. Known to live around North and South America, the Dire Wolf looked very similar to the Grey Wolf and was only slightly larger, being 1.5 metres long and weighing about 50 kilograms. Although they were superior in strength, their short legs made them slower than other predators such as the grey wolf and the coyote. **__Habitat__**  The Dire wolf has lived at the Pleistocene era which lasted from about 1.65 million to 16 thousand years. They lived around North and South America (less in South America than North America). The Pleistocene era was known as ‘The Last Ice Ages” and at one point, around 30% of the land on Earth was covered by glacial ice. This had led to larger animals with warm furs able to roam and dominate the environment. The ice ages during the Pleistocene Epoch era dropped the average of temperature by 5° (Celsius), the annual temperature at the edge of the ice was around −6 ° (Celsius) and at the edge of the permafrost, 0 ° (Celsius). This change in temperature affected the flora and fauna dramatically.

As the ice age occurred, plants and animals had to change and adapt to their new habitat. Before there were any ice ages the land was covered with forested mountains. However, as ice ages begun, lots of those forests started to turn into open grasslands and plains. A reason for this is because as plants and animals started to retreat southwards in order to find warmer places to live. There were still some plants and animals that stayed behind. Some trees that stayed behind were poison oak, walnut, California juniper, and redwood. Plants like sagebrush, juniper and sage were stayed in these areas as these plants did not need a lot of rainfall to live. Some animals that stayed was the mammoth, horse, sabre tooth cat and the buffalo.

The Dire wolf was an extremely adaptable animal, living in all different types of habitats, from forested mountains to open grasslands and plains. They lived in different types of habitat as ice ages had changed the climate and environment. They preferred to live in caves and holes as they can take shelter and hide from predators.   Because of the ice age, many animals either migrated to warmer regions or became extinct, meaning that food supply was in shortage. This forced predators to become smarter and more efficient at catching prey. Some ways that the Dire wolf did this was to hunt in packs to be able to compete with other carnivores for food. The dire wolves are high up in the food chain and they eat a wide variety of animals. Since the dire wolves travelled in packs, they can hunt and eat large preys such as buffaloes [|sloth] , mammoths, large cats and horses.

**__Structural adaptation 1: Large Jaws and teeth__**  The jaws of the dire wolf were larger than the grey wolf and the dingo, the length being around 16cms. This allowed the dire wolf to kill predators easily as the power of the jaw would penetrate through the skin of the predator. This adaptation has made the dire wolves be able to physically overpower large prey animals, helping them to catch food easier and helping them survive for longer. These adaptations would have been formed due to the climate changing and the wolf having to hunt larger prey. These adaptation has also helped the dire wolf catch more prey and kill animals more efficiently and therefore having a better chance to live. **__Structural adaptation 2: Strong bones and muscle structure__** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> As the ice ages came, animals had to become stronger and tougher to survive these conditions. That is why dire wolves had developed thick bones and stronger muscles, making them more physically stronger. The stronger muscles and thicker bones made them able to catch prey easier. It also helps when being attacked by other predators as it would be able to tolerate and withstand more pain. However, there were some disadvantages about the dire wolves’ bone structure like developing short legs which made it so that it could not run as fast as other predators. This adaptation was probably formed when the ice age begun and when a lot of the food supply started to run away or become extinct. This had probably led to more competitors and to survive, needed to be stronger and more adaptable to the environment. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">**__Behavioural adaptation 1: Scavenging__** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> During those times it was believed that the Dire Wolf could not get enough food to eat because competitors such as the grey wolves and the coyotes had longer legs which made these animals faster and more adaptable to catching prey. This is why scientists believe that the dire wolf, besides hunting, also scavenges for food. This is suggested by many palaeontologists as the dire wolf has relatively large teeth with enough power to crush bones. This idea is also shown by the fact that dire wolf’s teeth frequently have large amounts of wear on their crowns. By developing the adaptation to scavenge for food, it could survive for longer and increase his chances of survival. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">**__Behavioural adaptation 2: Lives in packs__** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The dire wolves like to live in packs and this adaptation had benefited them a lot. They lived in groups of thirty or more. When dire wolves travel around and hunt in packs, they are able to catch prey more easily and more effectively than to trying to catch it individually. They would make strategies on the most efficient way to catch preys without letting them escape. However, for every animal the group hunt they try to use different strategies. This was because animals during that period of time were becoming more intelligent and it was getting more difficult to catch them. The dire wolves also lived in packs to help defend their territories. By travelling in big packs they could defend off predators easier and catch bigger prey with more success, making them have more food to eat and intimately make them survive longer. This adaptation could have risen because more predators around and needed to protect themselves from any incoming danger. Living in packs also helped keep each other warm during the harsh climates that they might have faced.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">**__Physiological adaptation: Warm blooded.__** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> The dire wolf is a mammal, and one of the features of mammals is to be warm-blooded. Warm-blooded animals have a great advantage over cold blooded animals as warm blooded animals can regulate and change their body temperature through energy. This adaptation has helped the dire wolves and all other warm-blooded animals to survive during the ice age as this allows them to be able to survive and live with the harsh cold environment. They have developed this trait as they will be able to convert energy to warmth, making them able to survive in colder/more desolate regions where the environment is harsher. This adaptation was probably formed as they needed to find a way to warm themselves when they were cold.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">**__Extinction__** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Along with mammoths and mastodons, the Dire Wolf died off around 16000 years ago. There are many theories as to how they became extinct and most likely would be due to the increase in compeditors which were more superior in hunting food and the increase of intellect among prey. During the end of the ice age, a a lot of animals became extinct. These included lots of herbivores and small animals. This led to an increase in competitors. As the ice age ended, the climate became warmer and animals which had once lived south to shelter from the cold migrated back up. Even though the dire wolves are superior in strength, they did not have the speed and mobility to catch preys as fast as other animals. The dire wolves probably could not catch any prey for themselves because of the overwhelming amount of predators hunting the same kinds of food due to his speed and starved to death. Another theory of how they died was that they could not adapt to the rapidly changing climate.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">__**Bibliography**__

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