The dire wolf (Canis dirus "fearsome dog") is an extinct carnivorous mammal of the genus Canis related to the smaller extant gray wolf. It was most common in North America and South America from the Irvingtonian stage to the Rancholabrean stage of the Pleistocene epoch, living 1.80 Ma—10,000 years ago, persisting for approximately 1.79 million years.
Read more about Dire Wolf: Discovery, Taxonomic History, Evolution and Extinction
Famous quotes containing the words dire and/or wolf:
“What dire offence from am’rous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things,
I sing—”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“Our ancestors were savages. The story of Romulus and Remus being suckled by a wolf is not a meaningless fable. The founders of every state which has risen to eminence have drawn their nourishment and vigor from a similar wild source. It was because the children of the Empire were not suckled by the wolf that they were conquered and displaced by the children of the northern forests who were.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)