Andrea Diaz

Reporter

The Idaho Museum of Natural History (IMNH), located on the Idaho State University Pocatello campus, has a currently-running exhibit entitled, “Skulls, Everyone’s Got One”. One of the skulls featured is a dire wolf skull. This exhibit started in September 2020 and museum officials plan to continue throughout the summer.

There are many ways to engage in learning at the museum through interactive options at the exhibit. “Our SKULLS exhibit has been very popular with students. We have over a hundred skulls showcasing the diversity of life from dinosaurs to vampire bats, and of course you can see how your own skull measures up. As always, our galleries are free to ISU students,” said Museum Director, Leif Tapanila. 

Paleontologists found the dire wolf skull in Idaho back in the 1940s and it was then acquired by the museum. “It is the most complete cranium of a dire wolf in Idaho. I was approached by some of my fellow co-authors regarding dire wolf material at the museum and told them about the specimens housed at the museum.  I was asked to participate in the research,” said retired collections manager and paleontologist for the museum, Mary Thompson.

The museum has been interested in studying the Ice Age for quite some time and the skull helped progress their testing and furthered their research. “Our paleontologists have studied the Ice Age history of our region for decades. Now we have the chance to unlock DNA information from these fossils and understand the origins of major animal groups, including dire wolves,” Tapanila said.

Dire wolves were popularized in the TV show, “Game of Thrones”, and even though the TV show is fictional, dire wolves were not. Dire Wolves, also known as the “dreadful” wolf, have been extinct for over 13,000 years. However, it is one of the most common mammalian species to be found preserved in the La Brea Tar Pits in southern California. Compared to today’s gray wolves, dire wolves had much larger skulls, smaller brains, and light limbs. According to National Geographic, “even though gray wolves and dire wolves are similar in stature, genetics suggests that they are not related in any way.”

These massive creatures were carnivorous and hunted in packs of over 30 or more. It is believed that these packs were led by an alpha male and female. Evidence also shows that wolves lived monogamous lives and traveled together. Their prey consisted of large game such as horses, bison, and camels. They also occasionally ate giant ground sloths and mastodons. Dire wolves lived from coast to coast in North American and range from Canada to South America.

According to Britannica.com, It is hard to say what exactly made the dire wolves go extinct, say but the most likely reason is they hunted these big game animals, which started to go extinct. As such when their prey started to go extinct or nearly the dire wolves couldn’t sustain themselves, leading to their own extinction.

There are many learning opportunities at the Idaho Museum of Natural History that students can engage in. “Students can learn the similarities and differences in skulls from a variety of animals from small to large. Also, they can compare fossil forms to modern forms and see the changes and adaptations that occurred,” Thompson said.