Reposted by Tarbtano
Dire wolves were not close relatives of gray wolves. They last shared a common ancestor more than 5 million years ago. What Colossal has done is make something new and slapped a dire wolf sticker on it, as if an organism equals a hypothetical genome.
scientificamerican.com
Dire Wolves Were Not Really Wolves, New Genetic Clues Reveal
The extinct giant canids were a remarkable example of convergent evolution