Scientists Reveal Dire Wolf Species, Mythological Creatures In Game Of Thrones

Illustration. (Margot Noyelle / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Extinct about 13 thousand years ago, the Dire Wolf, a mythological animal in the popular television show 'Game of Thrones', actually exists in the real world. Often regarded as a relative of the Gray Wolf, scientists reveal that the two types of wolves are very different.

If all this time the Dire Wolf known as Canid Dirus or 'scary dog' is similar to the Gray Wolf that roams North America. The journal Nature recently revealed the difference between the two that are far away.

"The narrative that is happening is that the gray wolf and the terrible are closely related, such as the lineage of a sister or cousin, or perhaps the same animal," said Durham University archaeologist Angle Perri told CNN.

"We are quite comfortable with that assessment for 150 years, because that is what the similarity in their framework shows. Now genetics has revealed that they are only very distant, having separated from each other some 6 million years ago," he said.

Illustration. (Dusan Veverkologist / Unsplash)

For the first time, experts sequenced DNA from five frightening wolf fossils, each of which was found in Wyoming, Idaho, Ohio, and Tennessee. They date back more than 50,000 years.

The analysis shows that unlike many dog-like species it appears to have migrated between North America and Eurasia over time. The Dire wolf has only evolved in North America for millions of years.

The striking difference between these animals from the gray wolf, according to the researchers, places them in a completely different genus.

"This is surprising because we thought they were closely related for so long. Their skeletons and teeth are so similar, this is clearly a case of convergent evolution," said Perri.

"We also know that they are genetically different from each other, so there is no evidence that they can interbreed and produce offspring," he said.

Illustration. (Philipp Pilz / Unsplash)

Dire wolves overlapped with coyotes and gray wolves in North America for about 10,000 years before their extinction. However, there is no evidence of cross-breeding between them.

Experts believe that the Dire Wolf's evolutionary differences made it extinct because it was not ready to adapt to environmental changes at the end of the ice age.

"The average Dire Wolf is roughly 20 percent larger than the current average Gray Wolf. It seems they are also adapted to live in the warm, lowland environment, so we imagine they have shorter, perhaps reddish, fur with big ears for thermoregulation, "he said

"This is very different from the depiction of the large, gray-haired animals depicted in the frozen environment of Game of Thrones," he said.