Evolutionary history of wolves
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The ancestors of the
wolves were generated in the Palaeocene, about sixty million years ago.
First they were animals which were ate only small insects and with the
time they become bigger and bigger and their preys were now taller than
themselves. Then five million years ago the "great-father" of the wolves
and dogs, called Tomarctus, was developed. The remains of this carnivores
have been found on the biggest part on the earth. But because of hunting
the wolves of today are now extinct, for example in entire Central Europe.
Some authorities believe that this "great-father" developed in North America
and then spread to Eurasia and South America. Other people believe that
it came from Asia.
The first gray wolf,
Canis Lupus, probably appeared in Eurasia sometime in the early Pleistocene
period about a million years ago. Around 750000 years ago, it is possible
that it moved to North America. The dire wolf, Canis Dirus, larger and
heavier than the gray wolf, evolved earlier and the two lived in North
America for about 400'000 years. As prey became extinct around itself.
The remains of more than 2000 dire wolves were found in the La Bera Tar
Pits near Los Angeles (California). Around 7000 years ago, the gray wolf
became the primary canine predator in North America.
The evolution of the
domestic dog is still not clear, so there are two possibilities and the
scientists don't agree on them. Some believe that dogs are descendants
of wolves. Others think that wolves and domestic dogs evolved separately
from a common ancestor. Recently, the American Society of Mammologists
recommended that the domestic dog be declared as a new subspecies of the
wolf, called Canis Lupus Familiaris. There is some genetic evidence that
the dog is descended from the wolf and that the domestication of the dog
took place several times over the course of history. Biologist Barbara
Lawrence believes that the first domestication took place around 12000
years ago based on archaeological evidence. Some scientists believes that
humans began to feed wolves about 50000 years ago or so, gradually leading
to the first domestication of the canids.
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Source:
http//www.evo.htm
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&
„Wölfe, Verhalten und Lebensweise".R.
D. Lawrence
Schneider Verlag GmbH,1993.