The largest canine that ever lived, the Dire Wolf was the scourge of Pleistocene North America. Here are 10 facts you may or may not have known about this fierce predator.
With JURASSIC WORLD stomping on all its competition at the box office, it has rekindled the old (at least it seems old now) debate concerning the bringing back of extinct species via cloning or some other artificial means. In reality it would be far simpler, and that isn’t to say SIMPLE in any way, to clone an extinct mammal than a dinosaur. The odds of finding viable DNA in a mammalian fossil are far greater, though still not probable. Without answering the question about whether or not we SHOULD do such a thing, it might, some day not too far removed from us, be possible to bring back a mammoth. Or a sabertooth. Or a Dire Wolf.
I wonder how many people who watch GAME OF THRONES know that the Dire Wolves in the show are based on animals that once actually existed. One of the numerous species of megafauna that lived during the last Ice Age, the Dire Wolf was the bigger and more robust ancestor of today’s wolf, a “hypercarnivore” specially designed by nature as a furry killing machine. It never transitioned into a primitive human (that we know of) but in every other respect qualifies as a true monster.
I’ll be happy to have my wolf pack back revived via my DNA :3