Early Canids

[Blightwolf]

I'm sure many of us are fascinated by the evolution of the wolf and what were the very first canine-like creatures roaming the face of the Earth. We've all heard about the Dire Wolf, the supposed ancestor of the modern wolf, but what some don't know, is that there were other early canines as well that resembled a wolf in some way or another.

Please note that the information below might not be 100% accurate, since it is difficult to find absolutely reliable sources. If someone thinks they can give a link to a more dependable sources, please do so.

EPICYON HAYDENI

Epicyon ("near dog") is a large extinct canid genus of the subfamily Borophaginae ("bone-crushing dogs"), native to North America. It lived from the Hemingfordian of the Early Miocene to Hemphillian age of the Late Miocene (20.6—5.330 Mya.
Epicyon existed for about 15.5 million years.

Epicyon was one of the last of the Borophaginae and shared its North American habitat with other canidae: Borophagus (23.3—3.6 Mya), Paratomarctus (16.3—5.3 Ma), Carpocyon (20.4—3.9 Ma), Aelurodon (23.03—4.9 Ma), and the first emerging wolf, Canis lepophagus appearing 10.3 Ma.

Epicyon was named by Joseph Leidy in 1858 as a subgenus of Canis. It was also mentioned as belonging to Aelurodontina by William Diller Matthew & Stirton in 1930.

Two specimens were examined by Legendre and Roth for body mass. The first specimen was estimated to weigh 65.4 kg (144 lbs). The second specimen was estimated to weigh 56.3 kg (124 lbs). This genus contained several species of the largest canids to have ever lived, such as Epicyon haydeni, which stood 93 cm (37 inches) tall at the shoulder.

Fossil specimens range from Florida to Alberta, Canada to California; from Nebraska, and Kansas to New Mexico and Texas.

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Epicyon haydeni was a carnivore that lived about 11-7 million years ago, which was during the late part of the Miocene. This creature was a ferocious and terrifying predator. It was larger than a modern lion.

Epicyon haydeni was a member of the canine family, which includes dogs, wolves, foxes, and jackals. It was the largest canine (that we know of) to have ever lived on this planet.

Fossils of Epicyon haydeni have been found in the Ash Hollow Formation of Brown County, Nebraska. Some Epicyon fossils have also been discovered in Ellis County, Oklahoma. Fossilized remains have also been unearthed in Texas and Florida.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Subfamily: Borophaginae
Genus: Epicyon
Species: Epicyon haydeni

Illustrations: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VA6LePZ6KNY/S ... picyon.jpg

http://www.wolf2woof.com/IMAGES/EPICYON.GIF

http://www.kennislink.nl/upload/119267_ ... _groot.jpg[/size]

DIRE WOLF

The Dire Wolf (Canis dirus) synonymous with C. ayersi, C. indianensis, and C. mississippiensis), is an extinct carnivorous mammal of the genus Canis, and was most common in North America and South America from the Irvingtonian stage to the Rancholabrean stage of the Pleistocene epoch living 1.80 Ma—11,000 years ago, existing for approximately 1.69 million years.

The Dire Wolf was larger than the Gray Wolf, averaging about 1.5 metres (5 ft) in length and weighing about 57 kg (130 lb)–87.9 kg (190 lb). Despite superficial similarities to the Gray Wolf, there were significant differences between the two species. The legs of the Dire Wolf were proportionally shorter and sturdier than those of the Gray Wolf, and its brain case was smaller than that of a similarly-sized gray wolf.

The Dire Wolf's teeth were similar to the Gray Wolf's, only slightly larger pointing to a hypercarnivorous to mesocarnivorous activity. Paleontologist R.M. Nowak states the dietary characteristics are primarily carnivorous as well as pertially omnivorous.

Many paleontologists have proposed that the Dire Wolf may have used its relatively large teeth to crush bone, an idea that is supported by the frequency of large amounts of wear on the crowns of their fossilized teeth. The upper carnassials had a much larger blade than that of the Gray Wolf, indicating greater slicing ability. It had a longer temporal fossa and broader zygomatic arches, indicating the presence of a large temporalis muscle capable of generating slightly more force than a Gray Wolf's. However, other scientists have noted that the dorsoventral and labiolingual force profiles are indistinguishable from those of other canids such as coyotes and African wild dogs, indicating a similar diet. Dire wolf teeth lacked the craniodental adaptations of habitual bonecrushers such as hyenas and borophagines. The dorsoventrally weak symphyseal region indicates it killed in a manner similar to its modern relatives, by delivering a series of shallow bites, strongly indicating pack hunting behaviour. However, the incidence of broken post-carnassial molars is much higher than in fossil Gray Wolves, indicating that the species was probably less adapted to bone crushing than the Gray Wolf.

The Alsatian Shepalute, a breed of dog, is bred to resemble, in size and bone structure, the extinct Dire Wolf.

Information: http://www.naturalworlds.org/wolf/histo ... _dirus.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dire_Wolf

Illustrations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Canis ... larosa.jpg

http://hoopermuseum.earthsci.carleton.c ... /dire1.jpg

http://www.baystatereplicas.com/images/ ... e_wolf.jpg

http://www.sdnhm.org/media/images/stout ... oothPR.jpg

[Songdog]

Just to clarify, the Dire Wolf is not the ancestor of the grey wolf, the two existed at the same time. The grey wolf did not evolve from or descend from the Dire Wolf, it out-competed it. Te dire wolf was too slow for the prey, for after the ice age animals no longer need to be massive and bulky. Animals became slim and fast, so the Dire Wolf could not compete with the quicker Grey Wolf.

May I also suggest not putting your font in small? It becomes unreadable.

[Blightwolf]

Font size has been reduced due to Songdog's request.

And thanks for clearing up the Dire Wolf, seems like I've been misleaded - I had the impression that the wolves today descended from the Dire Wolf, that Dire Wolf is the fore-father/ancestor of the Grey Wolf. I thought Grey Wolves evolved some time later.

[Songdog]

Although it was closely related to the Gray Wolf and other sister species, Canis dirus was not the direct ancestor of any species known today. Unlike the Gray Wolf, which is of Eurasian origin, the Dire Wolf evolved on the North American continent, along with the Coyote. The Dire Wolf co-existed with the Gray Wolf in North America for about 100,000 years.

The Dire Wolf was one of the abundant Pleistocene megafauna—a wide variety of very large mammals that lived during the Pleistocene. Approximately 10,000 years ago the Dire Wolf became extinct along with most other North American megafauna.

The fossil record suggests that the genus Canis diverged from the small, foxlike Leptocyon in North America sometime in the Late Miocene Epoch 9 to 10 million years (Ma) ago, along with two other genera, Urocyon, and Vulpes. Canids soon spread to Asia and Europe (8 Ma BP) and became the ancestors of modern wolves, jackals, foxes, and the Raccoon Dog. By 3–5 Ma BP, canids had spread to Africa (Early Pliocene) and South America (Late Pliocene). Their invasion of South America as part of the Great American Interchange was enabled by the formation of the Isthmus of Panama 3 Ma ago.

Over the next nine million years, extensive development and diversification of the North American wolves took place, and by the Middle Pleistocene (800,000 years ago) Canis ambrusteri appeared and spread across North and South America. It soon disappeared from North America, but probably continued to survive in South America to become the ancestor of the Dire Wolf.

During the Late Pleistocene (300,000 years ago) the Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) crossed into North America on the Bering Strait land bridge. By 100,000 years ago the Dire Wolf also appeared in North America (probably from South America).

Starting about 16,000 years ago, coinciding with the end of the last glacial period and the arrival of humans in North America, most of the large mammals upon which the Dire Wolf depended for prey began to die out (possibly as a result of climate and/or human-induced changes). Slower than the other wolf species on the continent at the time, primarily the Gray Wolf and Red Wolf, it could not hunt the swifter species that remained and was forced to subsist on scavenging. By 10,000 years ago, the large mammals and the Dire Wolf were extinct, although some fossils found in Arkansas suggest that they may have lived as a relict population in the Ozark mountains as recently as 4,000 years ago

[Purity]

Interesting information, Embry. Thanks for posting this =)

Since I'm not exactly the expert on canid history, I'll leave the editing to you and Songdog. ;]

[Blightwolf]

Thank you for posting that, Songdog - now I feel much educated and lightened about the subject. I honestly had no idea Grey Wolves existed around the same time with the Dire Wolf...

[SunlightsRock]

Wow, that's really interesting, I didn't know that both the DIre wolf and Grey wolf existed together, either. Acctually, most of this was new to me. Thanks for posting it. [:

[Blightwolf]

There are some more early canids that I should post about, but the information about them is lacking and does not seem quite dependable (most of the information can only be found in Wikipedia).

[silverpelt 457]

I heard about the dire wolf in a fake book.I thought the dire wolf was fake.

[Sunawa]

I heard about the dire wolf in a fake book.I thought the dire wolf was fake.

You thought they were fake?Never trust everything books say.

[SolitaryHowl]

I heard about the dire wolf in a fake book.I thought the dire wolf was fake.

'fake book'? You mean to say fiction?

Fiction books can have fact in them - although usually it isn't very much fact.

The early canids are interesting. I enjoy researching them.

[pawnee]

The bear dog was an animal that lived I think when the age of mammals was extremely young...don't quote me on times. But it looked like a miz between a low ground dog and a fat bear...just something I watched on the discovery channel.

[Kivia]

I heard about the dire wolf in a fake book.I thought the dire wolf was fake.

Ahh I thought the same as well. The fictional book that I read them about in was the Guardians of Ga'Hoole. For about a year I was also convinced that they were unreal, but I figured it out in 7th grade that they actually did exist. Books, especially fiction, can be misleading...