Information about Dire Wolves (Canis Dirus)

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Information about Dire Wolves (Canis Dirus)

Post by SolitaryHowl » Mon Jun 07, 2010 1:56 pm

The following is information I've collected from the documentary entitled:

National Geographic: Prehistoric Predators: Dire Wolves

You're welcome to rent it somewhere and watch it. It's really good, and contains additional Grey Wolf hunting information.

This thread is to assist others with the new User Writings rule we have. (Dire wolves are now allowed to be written about.) However, those stories must still follow the following information. All other information not listed I either didn't deem important, or isn't known. But most aspects are similar to the Grey Wolf.
EDIT: Corrections have been made by Crocotto:
Dire wolves were the underdogs of Ice age North America. Even in large packs they often lost prey too larger carnivores, especially the Giant Short Faced bear. This is most evident in nearly a quarter of all injuries found on Dire Wolf fossils match up with evidence of a bear attack.
They were anything BUT the alpha carnivore of the Ice Age, unlike what you and History Channel say

Lastly, there is absolutely zero evidence dire wolves predated on any species of mammoth or mastodon. Even the calves were just too big for them. The only predators any North American elephantine has was the Giant Short Faced bear* (who was a legitimate hunter, another victim of history channel's inaccuracy), Smiley (calves only), and humans

The episode also neglects to state the dire "wolves's" relation. It continues to paint the false image that Dires are just over sized Gray Wolves; instead of stating the true fact that the dire "wolf" is really a Dire Coyote, as the American Coyote is it's closest living relative



*Giant Short Faced Bear:
The idea this animal was a pure scavenger is pure idiocy at it's best. The ONLY pure scavengers in the world are Vultures, and only they can afford to because they are not very big, and can fly.
The idea a super carnivore could use the same strategy is rooted in no fact, and in pure, outdated speculation.
Large carnivores
-Need more food
- and can't move very fast (relatively speaking)

I've seen the same happen to Tyrannosaurus, despite mountains of evidence of live hunting

Do you think a T-rex could live off of scraps from a dromeosaur kill? Nope
Do you think a Uber-Bear could last the Ice-Age off of the scrap wolves left him? Nope

History Channel is a HORRIBLE paleontology network. They exaggerate, make up 'facts', and often leave stuff out.

General Information

Size: Around 2 meters long, 1 meter high, and averaged 70kg. With the males weighing more than the females.

Era that they lived: Ice age.

Other important atonomy information:

- Much larger teeth and jaw. Teeth often broke and shattered due to the gnawing of bones.



Pack Dynamics/Hunting:

- Similar to that of the Grey Wolf; but there are key differences.

- Hunted in packs of 30 or more.

- Carnivore

- Able to kill prey 10x its size.

- Able to fight off much larger predators like the Saber Tooth cat and the Short-faced bear.

- Often died in sticky tar pits while hunting prey. (Dehydration, starvation)

- Dominant killer in the ice age.

- More Dire Wolves than Grey Wolves; and in a confrontation the Grey Wolves ran.

- Brought down prey by weight and jaws.

- Had stronger bite than Grey wolf

- Mostly hunted on Bison and Mammoth

- But hunts were still dangerous, with still a low hunt successful rate.

- Ate prey rapidly to avoid predator confrontation (within minutes.)

- When Dire Wolves are injured, some may carry food and nurture it. But others are not as cooperative and may abuse the animal.

Pups:

- Pups were treated similarly to the Grey wolf's.

- The pups mostly did not start to hunt until 7-8 months.

Extinction:

- A lot of theories.

- Severe abrupt climate change - dire wolves could not adapt to warmer weather.

- Dire wolves met an unexpected abrupt end.

- Some people suggest this was caused by humans, who brought diseases and more competition for prey.


(This Thread May Be Updated Without Notification

[Additional Websites with Accurate Information:]

- http://www.wolfsource.org/?page_id=110
Last edited by Koa on Tue Jul 04, 2017 3:45 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: changing status of topic to normal and merging first post contents with wolf FAQ thread
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Re: Information about Dire Wolves (Canis Dirus)

Post by Blightwolf » Tue Jun 08, 2010 2:10 am

Thank you very much for creating this accurate and educational thread about Dire Wolves, Solitary. People have many misconceptions about them.
And I think it's very liberal that we can corporate Dire Wolves into our writings nowadays. Hopefully the stories will remain realistic, though, and follow these rules and information given in this topic.
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Re: Information about Dire Wolves (Canis Dirus)

Post by paperpaws » Tue Jun 08, 2010 9:00 am

Thanks for the great post! This was really interesting to read, I'll look if I can rent the video.

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Re: Information about Dire Wolves (Canis Dirus)

Post by TalaHuntress » Tue Jun 08, 2010 6:22 pm

Thank you for this information! It's very useful and educational! :mrgreen:

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Re: Information about Dire Wolves (Canis Dirus)

Post by Masika » Fri Jun 11, 2010 12:04 pm

Thank you very much for posting this information Solitary! It's very interesting to read, plus its great to know more about these wolves.
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Re: Information about Dire Wolves (Canis Dirus)

Post by Angelsgirl » Fri Jun 11, 2010 7:01 pm

Um, little question.... :oops: What IS A "Dire Wolf"
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Re: Information about Dire Wolves (Canis Dirus)

Post by wolf at heart » Sat Jun 12, 2010 1:48 am

Angelsgirl wrote:Um, little question.... :oops: What IS A "Dire Wolf"
Well,A dire wolf is a wolf that lived millions of years ago.The useful information Solitary posted gives more information on the prehistoric predators.But I have also heard from somewhere that the Dire wolf isn't infact a wolf.Is that true?

Thanks for posting Solitary,very useful^^

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Re: Information about Dire Wolves (Canis Dirus)

Post by Angelsgirl » Sat Jun 12, 2010 9:43 am

wolf at heart wrote:
Angelsgirl wrote:Um, little question.... :oops: What IS A "Dire Wolf"
Well,A dire wolf is a wolf that lived millions of years ago.The useful information Solitary posted gives more information on the prehistoric predators.But I have also heard from somewhere that the Dire wolf isn't infact a wolf.Is that true?

Thanks for posting Solitary,very useful^^
Thanks, Wolf at Heart.
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Re: Information about Dire Wolves (Canis Dirus)

Post by Canidae » Sat Jun 12, 2010 8:18 pm

wolf at heart wrote:
Angelsgirl wrote:Um, little question.... :oops: What IS A "Dire Wolf"
Well,A dire wolf is a wolf that lived millions of years ago.The useful information Solitary posted gives more information on the prehistoric predators.But I have also heard from somewhere that the Dire wolf isn't infact a wolf.Is that true?

Thanks for posting Solitary,very useful^^

Dire wolves were wolves. They were just a different species of wolf. In North America today, we have Canis lupus and Canis rufus. Dire wolves, Canis dirus, are now extinct.
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Re: Information about Dire Wolves (Canis Dirus)

Post by wolf at heart » Sun Jun 13, 2010 6:03 am

Yes,but I heard that they were also refered to more of another breed of canine that wasn't wolf.

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Re: Information about Dire Wolves (Canis Dirus)

Post by soloreclipse » Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:18 pm

Thank you for posting this, it was very interesting to read.
Why are you reading this? You just wasted 2 seconds of your life reading this!!!!

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Re: Information about Dire Wolves (Canis Dirus)

Post by Ziah » Wed Jun 16, 2010 5:14 pm

wow this is really cool info thx for posting it :D
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Re: Information about Dire Wolves (Canis Dirus)

Post by Jinkrules » Sat Jun 19, 2010 5:13 pm

Thanks so much for this information! I've been really facinated with dire wolves latly, and this was the perfect thing for me :mrgreen:
Theyre such interesting animals, I've seen pictures too, and they're really cool!
Thanks solitary :wink:
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Re: Information about Dire Wolves (Canis Dirus)

Post by Duckheart » Sun Jun 20, 2010 6:49 pm

It is some really cool info. thanks for posting it :D
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Re: Information about Dire Wolves (Canis Dirus)

Post by Niela » Mon Jun 28, 2010 2:42 pm

They are really cool and I just joined a rp pack that is set in that time period and we are Dire wolves! it is AWESOME!
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