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Description
Sun set over Los Angeles.

Some 34,579 years ago, Wednesday night.

In the hills that will one day become known as Griffith park, father dire wolf calls.

The sound is long, deep, mournful and echos far.

His mate and his oldest children will be going on territory patrol tonight. His youngest will stay at the den with a baby sitter.

Hunting is good these days, the plain below abounds with bison and horse at this time of year and everyone’s belly is full.

However peace rarely lasts in these parts, lions have been heard south of the pack lands and their presence, however remote, is never appreciated.

The Dire “wolf” , long known in paleontology circles and more recently thanks to Game of Thrones has always been thought of as just a more robust, stouter limbed and thicker jawed... well wolf.

However recent DNA analysis suggests something slightly different. That the dire wolf, although most certainly related to all things jackal, coyote and wolf, was a distant, South American canid lineage that evolved separately. Independently and convergently giving rise to a large, big game hunting wolf analog. This species should now be referred to as Aenocyon dirus.

In this rendering the appearance of Aenocyon is still heavily based on Canis lupus and Canis Aureus. The recent reclassification is grounds for further experimentation with appearance and behavior.

All canids have a large repertoire of communication sounds, but did Aenocyon howl like wolves?

Thought?

Description
Sun set over Los Angeles.

Some 34,579 years ago, Wednesday night.

In the hills that will one day become known as Griffith park, father dire wolf calls.

The sound is long, deep, mournful and echos far.

His mate and his oldest children will be going on territory patrol tonight. His youngest will stay at the den with a baby sitter.

Hunting is good these days, the plain below abounds with bison and horse at this time of year and everyone’s belly is full.

However peace rarely lasts in these parts, lions have been heard south of the pack lands and their presence, however remote, is never appreciated.

The Dire “wolf” , long known in paleontology circles and more recently thanks to Game of Thrones has always been thought of as just a more robust, stouter limbed and thicker jawed... well wolf.

However recent DNA analysis suggests something slightly different. That the dire wolf, although most certainly related to all things jackal, coyote and wolf, was a distant, South American canid lineage that evolved separately. Independently and convergently giving rise to a large, big game hunting wolf analog. This species should now be referred to as Aenocyon dirus.

In this rendering the appearance of Aenocyon is still heavily based on Canis lupus and Canis Aureus. The recent reclassification is grounds for further experimentation with appearance and behavior.

All canids have a large repertoire of communication sounds, but did Aenocyon howl like wolves?

Thought?