Description

Dire Wolf Skeleton Panel is museum quality polyurethane resin replica. Dire Wolf Skeleton Panel measures 39 x 39 inches. LACMNH Page Museum La Brea replica. Our precise skeleton can be used as a teaching tool, museum skeleton exhibit, home decor skeleton, or office decor skeleton.

The Dire Wolf, Canis dirus or Aenocyon dirus is sometimes referred to as the fearsome dog and is an extinct species of the genus Canis. It is one of the most famous prehistoric carnivores in North America, along with its extinct competitor, the sabre-toothed cat Smilodon fatalis.

The Dire Wolf, Canis dirus or Aenocyon dirus lived in the Americas and China during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene epochs (125,000–9,500 years ago). The largest collection of its fossils has been obtained from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.

Dire Wolf or Aenocyon dirus remains have been found across a broad range of habitats including the plains, grasslands, and some forested mountain areas of North America, and in the arid savannah of South America.

The sites range in elevation from sea level to 7,400 ft. Dire Wolf fossils have rarely been found north of 42°N latitude; there have been only five unconfirmed reports above this latitude.

This range restriction is thought to be due to temperature, prey, or habitat limitations imposed by proximity to the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets that existed at the time.

The Dire Wolf or Aenocyon dirus was about the same size as the largest modern gray wolves (Canis lupus): the Yukon wolf and the northwestern wolf.

Its skull and dentition matched those of C. lupus, but its teeth were larger with greater shearing ability, and its bite force at the canine tooth was the strongest of any known Canis species.

These characteristics are thought to be adaptations for preying on Late Pleistocene mega herbivores, and in North America its prey are known to have included horses, ground sloths, mastodons, bison, and camels.

Its extinction occurred during the Quaternary extinction event along with most of the American mega fauna of the time, including a number of other carnivores, that occurred soon after the appearance of humans in the New World.

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Additional information

Weight 40 lbs
Dimensions 39 × 39 in
Dire Wolf Facts:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Canis
Species: †C. dirus
Binomial name: †Canis dirus