dire wolf

[ dahyuhr woolf ]

noun

1. an extinct canid species, Aenocyon dirus, with two recognized subspecies ( A. dirus dirus and A. dirus guildayi ), living in the Americas and eastern Asia during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene epochs: similar in size to the largest modern gray wolf ( Canis lupus ), but with larger, more powerful teeth suited for preying upon large prehistoric herbivores, such as mastodons, bison, camels, and horses.

Word History and Origins

Origin of dire wolf¹

First recorded in 1910–15; translation of New Latin Canis dirus “dread dog,” species name coined by Joseph Leidy ( def ) (1858); designation Aenocyon dirus (from Greek ainós, “terrible” + Greek cýon, “dog” [+ dirus ]) proposed (but not universally accepted) in 1918 to consolidate variously named species deemed separate from genus Canis ; 2021 DNA findings show the dire wolf to be highly distinct from extant wolflike canines and so the classification A. dirus is now accepted as appropriate

Example Sentences

Lundberg and his diver companion had found fossils in the same place before, including mammoth teeth, bones of an ancient jaguar and parts of a dire wolf.

From Seattle Times

Some 13,000 years later, that sabertoothed cat’s jawbone sits in a museum drawer alongside those of a western horse, ancient bison, dire wolf, ground sloth, and yesterday’s camel.

From Science Magazine

Using carbon records for plants, animals and charcoal accumulation in Southern California and matching them with projections of what human activity was like in the area, researchers found the mass extinction of nearly all species they studied — including sabre-toothed cats, the dire wolf and bison.

From Salon

Paleontologists have sought to understand exactly how these animals died off, including iconic predators like the saber-tooth cat and the dire wolf.

From New York Times

“We have these different windows of different habitats from different times,” said Dr. George as she crouched over the tarred bones of a dire wolf and some juniper seeds.

From New York Times