From: TTrotsky@aol.com
Date: Tue 16 Sep 1997 - 20:37:10 EEST
Darvall <madamx@mikka.net.au>:
<< On Earth @ least D&W evolved quite seperately. Dogs are decended
from the asiatic 'wolf' (Australian dingo) wolves from something
more akin to a bear ( not bear as such but a common ancestor),
hence the seperate genus. >>
If this is the case it must be a pretty recent discovery. Every zoology
and paleontology text I have, including one specifically on the evolution of
mammalian carnivores and written as recently as 1992, lists the wolf as
'Canis lupus' and as very closely related to the dog. Another states that the
dingo probably evolved from the wolf. Good grief, dogs and wolves are
interfertile, husky/wolf crosses being particularly common. My book on
carnivore evolution quotes dogs and wolves as diverging less than 2 million
years ago, but canines and bears as diverging around 40 million years ago.
I'm not sure what animal you're thinking of (fox? they at least diverged
from other canines at a fairly early stage), but I don't think it's a wolf.
Forward the glorious Red Army!
Trotsky
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