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Dire Wolves Weren’t Actually Wolves, DNA Analysis Reveals
smithsonianmag.com ^ | January 15, 2021 8:00AM | Alex Fox

Posted on 01/15/2021 5:09:16 PM PST by BenLurkin

When researchers sequenced the extinct predator’s genome, they found it wasn’t a wolf at all but instead a distinct lineage that split off from the rest of the canines some 5.7 million years ago, reports James Gorman for the New York Times.

To reveal the dire wolf’s true evolutionary identity, researchers extracted DNA from five fossils between 13,000 and 50,000 years old and sequenced their genomes. The team ultimately recovered around a quarter of the nuclear genome and a full complement of mitochondrial DNA from the samples...

Though the bones of the dire wolf are so similar to today’s gray wolves that paleontologists sometimes have trouble telling them apart, the genes told an entirely different story when researchers compared them to those of living canine species.

In addition to not being part of the wolf’s evolutionary tribe, the dire wolf DNA also showed that the species’ lineage is separate from the other living branches of the canine evolutionary tree, including African jackals, coyotes and dogs.

To reflect the dire wolf’s now lonely perch on its very own branch of the canine evolutionary tree, researchers propose giving it a new scientific name: Aenocyon dirus. Speaking with Scientific American, Perri admits that the new findings likely won’t cause the whole world to abandon the common name dire wolf.

(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...


TOPICS: Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: aenocyondirus; direwolves; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble
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To: BenLurkin

They were the Rachel Dolezal of wolves?


21 posted on 01/15/2021 5:41:48 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: BenLurkin

Thank you Warren Zevon. Now, our next caller on the “From The Graveyard” line, Lon Cheney.


22 posted on 01/15/2021 5:44:07 PM PST by Spacetrucker (George Washington didn't use his freedom of speech to defeat the British - HE SHOT THEM .. WITH GUNS)
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To: minnesota_bound

Maybe it was the Fenris wolf.


23 posted on 01/15/2021 5:48:55 PM PST by Fred Hayek (Antifa=BLM=RevCom=CPUSA = CCP=Democratic Party )
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To: BenLurkin
Dire Wolf:

Durer wolf:


24 posted on 01/15/2021 5:52:00 PM PST by PLMerite ("They say that we were Cold Warriors. Yes, and a bloody good show, too." - Robert Conquest )
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To: BenLurkin
Dire Wolves have been exonerated from eating Grandma?

Maybe it was a Dingo.

25 posted on 01/15/2021 5:55:06 PM PST by Deaf Smith (When a Texan takes his chances, chances will be taken that's for sure.)
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To: FreedomPoster

Someone discovered giraffes with dwarfism recently in a herd in Africa.


26 posted on 01/15/2021 5:59:30 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: dynachrome

LOL!


27 posted on 01/15/2021 6:03:43 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: BenLurkin

600 pounds of sin.


28 posted on 01/15/2021 6:11:54 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo (MAGA!!!)
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To: BenLurkin

Still a canine though. Right?


29 posted on 01/15/2021 6:19:43 PM PST by vpintheak (Live free, or die!)
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To: BenLurkin

History and science is whatever appointed modern experts say it is at any given time. Those are the facts and cannot be deviated. They cannot be questioned. Dire Wolves were not wolves, because we say so. Until it becomes somehow friendly to The Party to proclaim them wolves once again.


30 posted on 01/15/2021 6:33:17 PM PST by KobraKai
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To: PLMerite
Tie Dyer Wolf


31 posted on 01/15/2021 6:37:48 PM PST by KarlInOhio (The greatest threat to world freedom is the Chinese Communist Party and Joe Biden is their puppet.)
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To: Manic_Episode

I don’t see how the reins on that dire wolf serve any purpose.


32 posted on 01/15/2021 6:46:52 PM PST by Armscor38
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To: KarlInOhio

Very good!


33 posted on 01/15/2021 6:55:39 PM PST by PLMerite ("They say that we were Cold Warriors. Yes, and a bloody good show, too." - Robert Conquest )
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To: PLMerite; Tax-chick; NicknamedBob; Kaslin; BenLurkin; MHGinTN; Liz

Hmmmn. Does that make their offspring a Durer-Die wolf?

(The off-colored ones would be a Durer-Dyed Wolf.)


34 posted on 01/15/2021 6:56:07 PM PST by Robert A Cook PE ( I can only donate monthly, but the radical ABCNNBCBS does it every hour on their news.)
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To: Armscor38

He guides the wolf with his seat and legs :-)

(I remember reading in a book - I believe it was by Barbara Woodhouse - about how she trained a horse on reins made of sewing thread...)


35 posted on 01/15/2021 7:13:49 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: BenLurkin

Wargs.


36 posted on 01/15/2021 7:19:10 PM PST by epluribus_2 (He, had the best mom - ever.)
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Comment #37 Removed by Moderator

To: BenLurkin

Did it look like a wolf? Did it act like a wolf? IT WAS A WOLF!!!!


38 posted on 01/15/2021 7:49:43 PM PST by DouglasKC
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To: DouglasKC
Did it look like a wolf? Did it act like a wolf? IT WAS A WOLF!!!!


39 posted on 01/15/2021 7:52:56 PM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: BenLurkin

Lets don’t bring that one back. 😏


40 posted on 01/15/2021 8:36:04 PM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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