From the Western Institute for Study of the Environment.
The ancient gray wolves of Alaska became extinct some 12,000 years ago, and the wolves in Alaska today are not their descendants but a different subspecies, an international team of scientists reports in the July 3 print edition of the journal Current Biology.
The scientists analyzed DNA samples, conducted radio carbon dating and studied the chemical composition of ancient wolves at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. They then compared the results with modern wolves and found that the two were genetically distinct.
“The ancient Alaskan gray wolves are all more similar to one another than any of them is to any modern North American or modern Eurasian wolf,” said study co-author Blaire Van Valkenburgh, UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.
The research was federally funded by the National Science Foundation.
The ancient gray wolves lived in Alaska continuously from at least 45,000 years ago — probably earlier, but radio carbon dating does not allow for the establishment of an earlier date — until approximately 12,000 years ago, Van Valkenburgh said.<<<read the rest>>>
Tom Remington
