Were Dire Wolves Actually Real?

After watching Game of Thrones or playing DND, you might wonder if Dire Wolves were actually real. Turns out, these were real animals that lived during the last Ice Age, but they weren't actually...wolves? Join Hank Green and learn what these giant creatures really were i this new episode of SciShow!

Hosted by: Hank Green

----------
----------
Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever:

Silas Emrys, Drew Hart, Jeffrey Mckishen, James Knight, Christoph Schwanke, Jacob, Matt Curls, Christopher R Boucher, Eric Jensen, Adam Brainard, Nazara Growing Violet, Ash, Laura Sanborn, Sam Lutfi, Piya Shedden, Katie Marie Magnone, Scott Satovsky Jr, charles george, Alex Hackman, Chris Peters, Kevin Bealer, Alisa Sherbow

----------
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
----------
Sources:
Special thanks to Dr. Angela Perri

Images:

[RoryMajule]

What I’ve learned from SciShow so far is that everything will inevitably converge into either a crab or a wolf.

Beware the crab-wolf... the ultimate life form

[TBomb]

nature: I'm going to evolve everything to wolves and crabs

[RicardoMoralesMassin]

We asked Dr Angela Perry - leader of the Dire Wolfd study - why Evolution seems to like wolves so much, she told us
- Hank because wolves are just so *freaking cool* man

[glenngriffon]

so we're renaming them from Dire Wolf to Dread Wolf... I demand we clone one and name it Roberts.
you know, for science...

[Oddball_E]

"They weren't actually wolves, so we renamed them from Dire wolves to Dread wolves"

... wait... what?

[Daniel-rpnt]

For some reason at first glance, I interpreted the title as saying that wolves weren't real lmao

[WingedAsarath]

Big props to SciShow for always having subtitles ready at video launch! I'm watching this half an hour after video release and there are full manual subtitles ready!

[emilyplunkett]

Whenever I hear "dire wolves, " my mind immediately goes to the Canada section of South Park: The Stick of Truth.

Dire wolves: They are like regular wolves, but dire.

[PowerHouseProdigy]

Stuff like this really goes to show just how little we know about extinct fauna.

[blobbertmcblob]

No matter what they are, or are not, Canis or Aenocyon, one thing is certain. They were probably the goodest of bois.

[dan]

The lupine body plan has a lot of consistency with with other non-aquatic predators. Long limbs, a mid-sized body for its ecosystem, a relatively large head and a large thorax relative to its abdomen. Thats a set of physical features common to a lot of successful groups; hominids, felines, dromaeosaurs, raptorial birds, pterosaurs (not so much midsized). Its a nice balance of agility, endurance, efficiency and intelligence.

[PaleoAnalysis]

I love Eons and any time Sci Show covers Paleontology stuff. Hank's a big part of what has gotten me started doing YouTube

[marcoasturias]

Nature be like: big pupper, the ultimate life form

[faytquicksilver]

An episode about wolves. Best subject ever. Good job.

[biohazard]

With evolution constantly making wolves and crabs, how long until we see wild canines with pincers or howling crustaceans in packs?

[raerohan]

Could you do a video on wolves that fish? Some wolves in Minnesota have been observed to do this. They hunt beavers too - actually their diet in general is fascinating. A video on that might be nice

[johnreis]

When I awoke, The dire wolf, six hundred pounds of sin. Was grinning at my window, all I said was come on in. Don’t murder me, I beg of you, don’t murder me. -J. Garcia/R. Hunter

[collyflower]

I read the title as "dire wolves are real but wolves aren't real" so that was a mindfuck

[THETRIVIALTHINGS]

If they aren't wolves, I bet they aren't that dire either and instead were actually quite mild.

[David-vocz]

That was a very good video. A lot of info and not any nonsense.