Canada now has its first dire wolf.

For the first time, a Canadian fossil has been confirmed as coming from the Ice Age predator featured in the TV series B次元官网网址淕ame of Thrones.B次元官网网址� The specimen, from near Medicine Hat in southern Alberta, was tentatively identified decades ago but a team from the Royal Ontario Museum used new technology to finally lock it down.

B次元官网网址淚t had never been fully described,B次元官网网址� said evolutionary biologist Ashley Reynolds, lead author of the paper published in the Journal of Quaternary Science. B次元官网网址淭his had never been done for this specimen.B次元官网网址�

It wasnB次元官网网址檛 easy. The entire specimen, between 25,000 and 50,000 years old, consists of one jaw, badly crushed, with some remaining teeth.

B次元官网网址淲e could tell pretty clearly right away it was a member of the dog family, about the size of a wolf,B次元官网网址� Reynolds said.

So, it was either a grey wolf or a dire wolf. There are ways to tell them apart based on teeth, but this animal was too old for that.

B次元官网网址淲hen an animal gets really old, it starts to wear down its teeth and this can mean that features of the teeth get worn away,B次元官网网址� Reynolds said.

Although dire wolves tend to be significantly bigger than grey wolves, this individual was within the size range of both species. So the researchers tried something else.

The team took points along the outline of the fossil and used a computer program to estimate its shape. They compared that with known values from grey and dire wolves.

B次元官网网址淏ased on the parts of the shape we do have, which does it look more like,B次元官网网址� Reynolds said.

This dire wolf is the northernmost confirmed example of the species ever found. ThatB次元官网网址檚 because in those days, most of what is now Canada, was covered by a massive ice sheet.

But every now and then the ice retreated, opening up habitat from Yukon down through central and southeast Alberta and making way for an Ice Age bestiary thatB次元官网网址檚 hard to imagine on the rolling, grassy plains along the South Saskatchewan River where the dire wolf was found.

There were giant ground sloths, wild horses, camels, mammoths and mastodons. ReynoldsB次元官网网址� previous research found sabre-tooth cats in the same deposit as the dire wolf.

Confirming the presence of dire wolves adds to our picture of what the Ice Age looked like in Canada, Reynolds said.

B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e starting to get a better picture of what lived in Canada in ages past. We see a fauna that is very similar to what we would see even in California.B次元官网网址�

But this area would also have seen a unique mixing of southern and Arctic species. ThereB次元官网网址檚 some evidence, for example, that cave lions could have lived in the area.

ThereB次元官网网址檚 not much Reynolds can say about the dire wolf she studied.

It was relatively small for the species. It was very old, so it must have been a successful wolf. At some point in its life, it lost one of its big teeth and had to make do.

Much about Ice Age Canada remains to be learned, Reynolds said.

B次元官网网址淐anadian fossils, especially from the time the after the dinosaurs, are relatively understudied,B次元官网网址� Reynolds said. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e really just starting to figure out what the landscape looked like.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址擝ob Weber, The Canadian Press

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