It is a large canine that dares to snatch food from cougars, and the cause of its extinction is a mystery

Back in North America 100,000 years ago, a hungry cougar successfully hunted down a flat-headed lion after a fierce battle. When it was about to enjoy delicious food, in the jungle not far away, there were hissing footsteps, accompanied by a low roar. The cougar was immediately alert, his eyes fixed on the direction of the sound. At this moment, a pair of dire wolves with green eyes came out of the jungle and slowly approached the cougar.

When the cougar saw this, worried that his food would be robbed, he opened his mouth and roared at the dire wolf. The dire wolf faced the warning of the cougar without any fear. After the leading dire wolf let out a few wolf roars, a dozen dire wolves sprang out of the jungle at once. The cougar found that there were too many dire wolves and had to leave the trophy and flee. The dire wolves immediately rushed to the flathead, vying for the most delicious part. In the dark night, the Dire Wolf roared and sang the Dire Wolf song of gratitude to the dead.

Dire wolves were born 2.6 million years ago, with an average body length of 1.5 meters, a maximum of 2.4 meters, and an average weight of 50-79kg. They dared to snatch prey with cougars and did not become extinct until 8,000 years ago. It can be said that they have always accompanied humans. Enter the Neolithic Age. When it comes to the name Dire Wolf, everyone may think it is a wolf. However, according to the latest research, the ancestors of dire wolves diverged from modern wolf species as early as 5.7 million years ago. From a genetic point of view, dire wolves are not actually wolves.

In order to understand the evolutionary history of dire wolves, some scientists have started DNA sequencing of the fossils of dire wolves. According to the research, the ancestors of dire wolves diverged from modern wolves 5.7 million years ago, and then 5.1 million years ago, dire wolves gradually began to diverge and evolve from African jackals. In addition, the researchers found no evidence of genetic exchange between dire wolves and gray wolves or coyotes in relevant samples. This also shows that dinosaurs are geographically isolated from gray wolves and coyotes. Dire wolves evolved independently, and it is unlikely that their genes will be mixed, so dire wolves are not wolves.

However, how the dire wolves became extinct is still a mystery. Some people think that it is mainly caused by the extinction of the main food of the dire wolves, the ancestor horse. However, considering the dire wolves' wider diet, this statement is difficult to convince. The second theory is that the dire wolves were affected by competition from gray wolves migrating from Asia and various diseases brought by Asia, which eventually led to the extinction of the dire wolves. This statement is slightly more reliable than the previous one, but it also lacks the support of relevant archaeological evidence.

There is also a saying that 12,000 years ago, the cold Pleistocene alternated with the warm Holocene, and many large animals became extinct because of their inability to adapt and the drastic changes in the environment, which led to the lack of food for the dire wolves and finally went extinct. At present, this view has been recognized by many scholars and has become the mainstream view.