FOXSYLVANIA

—Larger than the gray wolf with which it existed for over 100,000 years, the Dire Wolf (Canis dirus) was the largest canid to have ever existed, weighing up to 175 lbs. and averaging five feet in length.  It was one of the megafauna that existed during the Pleistocene era.  The dire wolf had a larger head than similarly-sized gray wolves, and teeth that were quite massive.  Numerous dire wolf specimens have been discovered, thousands alone from the La Brea Tar Pits in California. Sadly, the dire wolf became extinct about 10,000 years ago, while some maintain that cryptid canines (the Waheela, for example) may represent strains of dire wolves.

In storytelling, dire wolves tend to represent the darkest side of fallen human nature, clawing its way to the surface when we come to the end of our own strength…something dark, instinctual, and powerful…<sigh!>