The Beringian wolf (a subspecies of Canis lupus) lived during the last
Ice Age in what is now Alaska, the Yukon, and northern Wyoming. The wolf
was more robust, with stronger jaws and teeth, than other Late
Pleistocene gray wolves and the comparably sized modern Yukon wolf
(Canis lupus pambasileus), but not as strong as the dire wolf. The
unique adaptation of the skull and dentition of the Beringian wolf
allowed it to produce relatively large bite forces, grapple with large
struggling prey, and therefore to predate and scavenge on Pleistocene
megafauna. The wolf has been comprehensively studied, yielding new
information on the prey species and feeding behavior of prehistoric
wolves. The Beringian wolf preyed most often on horse and steppe bison,
and also on caribou, mammoth, and woodland musk ox. The species survived
well into the Holocene before its extinction at the close of the Ice
Age, when cold and dry conditions abated and much of its prey also went
extinct. The remains of ancient wolves with similar skulls and dentition
have been found in western Beringia (north-east Siberia).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beringian_wolf>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1577:
Elizabeth I of England's principal secretary and spymaster
Francis Walsingham was knighted.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Walsingham>
1822:
Pedro I was formally crowned the first Emperor of Brazil, seven
weeks after his reign began on his 24th birthday.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_I_of_Brazil>
1955:
In a key event in the African-American Civil Rights Movement,
Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus
to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, sparking the Montgomery Bus
Boycott.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks>
1959:
Twelve countries signed the Antarctic Treaty, the first arms
control agreement established during the Cold War, banning military
activity in the Antarctic and setting the continent aside as a
scientific preserve.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Treaty_System>
1991:
Over 92% of Ukrainian voters approved their country's
independence as declared by the Ukrainian parliament on 24 August.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_independence_referendum,_1991>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Eurodeterrent:
The proposed unified nuclear deterrent of the European Community (before
November 1993) and the European Union (after November 1993).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Eurodeterrent>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There's nothing as safe as ignorance — or as dangerous.
--"The Squirt and the Monkey"(AKA "See No Evil")
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nero_Wolfe#.22The_Squirt_and_the_Monkey.22>