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