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 ...
Dire Straights weren’t actually....
I want a cloned dire wolf. I want it bad.
I got second.
Dire wolves are of the north. I learned that from the Stark family.
Well, they WERE wolves....
Until Bill Gates got in his time machine, went back to the early Holocene, and tested some of his vaccines on them.
They evolved into Dairy Cows.
I will take ‘research error’ for $500.
“ researchers extracted DNA from five fossil”
They were werewolves. They are still around....
Mostly in London.
That’s what I’m tawking ‘bout.
Drinking a pina colada at trader vic’s?
That’s EXACTLY why I’m not a cat person.
“The Dire Wolf collects his due...”
That’s dire.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.