Evolution wolf

Evolution
Main article: Evolution of the wolf
Further information: Origin of the domestic dog
Skull of Canis etruscus
A Canis etruscus skull in the Montevarchi Paleontological Museum
The phylogenetic descent of the extant wolf C. lupus from C. etruscus through C. mosbachensis is widely accepted.[14] The earliest fossils of C. lupus were f

ound in what was once eastern Beringia at Old Crow, Yukon, Canada, and at Cripple Creek Sump, Fairbanks, Alaska. The age is not agreed upon but could date to one million years ago. Considerable morphological diversity existed among wolves by the Late Pleistocene. They had more robust skulls and teeth than modern wolves, often with a shortened snout, a pronounced development of the temporal

is muscle, and robust premolars. It is proposed that these features were specialized adaptations for the processing of carcass and bone associated with the hunting and scavenging of Pleistocene megafauna. Compared with modern wolves, some Pleistocene wolves showed an increase in tooth breakage similar to that seen in the extinct dire wolf. This suggests they either often processed carcasses,

or that they competed with other carnivores and needed to consume their prey quickly. Compared with those found in the modern spotted hyena, the frequency and location of tooth fractures in these wolves indicates they were habitual bone crackers.[15] In June 2019, the severed

yet preserved head of a Pleistocene wolf, dated to over 40,000 years ago, was found close to the Tirekhtyakh River in Yakutia, Russia, near the Arctic Circle. The head was about 16 in (41 cm) long, much bigger than a modern wolf’s head.[16][17][18]