Friday, December 1, 2017

Beringian wolfs from the last Ice Age

Beringian wolves diorama

The Beringian wolf lived during the last Ice Age in northern Wyoming, the Yukon and Alaska. The wolf was robust, with strong jaws and teeth. The unique adaptation of the skull and dentition of the Beringian wolf allowed it to produce relatively large bite forces, grapple with large struggling prey, and therefore to predate and scavenge on Pleistocene megafauna. The wolf has been comprehensively studied, yielding new information on the prey species and feeding behavior of prehistoric wolves. The Beringian wolf preyed most often on horse and steppe bison, and also on caribou, mammoth, and woodland musk ox. The species survived well into the Holocene before its extinction at the close of the Ice Age, when cold and dry conditions abated and much of its prey also went extinct. The remains of ancient wolves with similar skulls and dentition have been found in north-east Siberia.

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