When Direwolves Roamed in Florida

Heavier than a gray wolf, ancient packs once roamed from Canada, to Bolivia.

The oldest fossils, from 240,000 yrs ago, have been found in the Black Hills of So. Dakota, while the most recent direwolf remains from Florida, are just 11,000 yrs old. The Old Vero Man site even shows burned bones of extinct fossils from 14,000 yrs ago. Were men there doing the cooking??? Did man exist next to mammoths, saber toothed lions, and direwolves? Located where 3 rivers come together on Florida’s Atlantic Coast, providing fresh water for thousands of years, this site was first discovered in 1916, and is now being re-investigated with the latest technology.

Ancient Direwolves, at 5 ft long, and weighing in at 110-174 lbs, must have been a formidable sight to see. It’s the largest species of ‘fearsome dog’ to be found. The smallest direwolf would have been as large as our modern gray, with the largest ancient wolf quite bigger and weighing 25% more. Fossils are found all through grasslands, forests, tropical marshes, widespread areas where packs thrived in every climate from sea level to 7400 ft mountains. While the gray wolf originated in the Europe-Asia continent, the direwolf evolved completely in North America, along with the coyote.

The Old Vero Man himself is a skull with 44 bones, now known to belong to at least 5 different people, with at least one woman in the group. All this was first revealed when a canal was drained back in 1915. Bones were seen sticking out of the layers of sediment rising along the side. Levels of deposits date as far back as 22,000 yrs ago. The canal water level is even lower today, so there are more ancient levels to investigate. A huge tent covers the area where meticulous excavations are made as they now hunt for DNA in the soil. New theories intriguingly say that Paleo-Indians at the end of the Ice Age came over in waves over land and sea, some dating well before the well known Clovis people from 13,000 yrs ago, who made the wonderful notched  arrowhead points.

I can’t help but think of Game of Thrones, with their villages, and hunting/gathering societies along with their royal elite, surrounded by mammoths and direwolves, living side by side. What a fearsome life it must have been back then. Packs of direwolves roaming the mountains and planes, the Yucatan and LeBrea tar pits. Each creature, each human relied on their group for survival and support. A wild and wooly time right here on our own ancient landscape. Pretty awesome!