Dire Wolf Skull Replica
$318.00
The Dire Wolf was nearly twice the size of modern wolves. The Dire Wolf of the Pleistocene epoch is the largest wolf species known to have existed. They were an opportunistic predator, not above feeding on wounded or trapped prey.
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- Additional information
Description
Dire Wolf Skull Replica measures 12.2″L x 6.5″W x 6.5″H. Dire Wolf Skull Replica is museum-quality polyurethane resin cast from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Foundation, Page Museum specimen. 2-part skull (separate cranium and mandible). Made in USA.
The Dire Wolf, Canis dirus or Aenocyon dirus is also know as the fearsome dog and is an extinct species of the genus Canis.
The Dire Wolf lived in the Americas and China during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene epochs (125,000 to 9,500 years ago). The species was named in 1858, four years after the first specimen had been found. The largest collection of its fossils has been obtained from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.
Dire Wolf or Canis 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.
They were about the size as the largest modern gray wolves. 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 megaherbivores, and in North America its prey are known to have included horses, ground sloths, mastodons, bison, and camels.
The Dire Wolf or Aenocyon dirus is thought to have been a pack hunter. Its extinction occurred during the Quaternary extinction event along with most of the American megafauna of the time.
Canis dirus reliance on megaherbivores has been proposed as the cause of its extinction, along with climate change and competition with other species, but the cause remains controversial.
Dire Wolves or Aenocyon dirus lived as recently as 9,500 years ago, according to dated remains.
Dire Wolf Facts:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Canis
Species: †C. dirus
Binomial name: †Canis dirus
Contrast the Dire Wolf skull replica with the Oligocene Dog skull replica to track the millions of years of evolutionary growth from basal canids to the apex predators of the Ice Age.
Additional information
| Weight | 7 lbs |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 12.2 × 6.5 × 6.5 in |