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:
“Was none who would be foremost
To lead such dire attack;
But those behind cried “Forward!”
And those before cried “Back!””
—Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859)
“A man in a cave or in a camp, a nomad, will die with no more estate than the wolf or the horse leaves.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)