Illustration of a Pleistocene wolf cranium that was found in Kents Cavern, Torquay, England[1]
The evolution of the wolf occurred over a geologic time scale of at least 300 thousand years.
The grey wolf Canis lupus is a highly adaptable species that is able to exist in a range of environments and which possesses a wide distribution across the Holarctic. Studies of modern grey wolves have identified distinct sub-populations that live in close proximity to each other.[2][3] This variation in sub-populations is closely linked to differences in habitat – precipitation, temperature, vegetation, and prey specialization – which affect cranio-dental plasticity.[4][5][6][7]
The archaeological and paleontological records show the grey wolf's continuous presence for at least the last 300,000 years.[8] This continuous presence contrasts with genomic analyses, which suggest that all modern wolves and dogs descend from a common ancestral wolf population[9][10][11] that existed as recently as 20,000 years ago.[9] Grey wolves suffered a species-wide population bottleneck (reduction) approximately 25,000 YBP during the Last Glacial Maximum. This was followed by a single population of modern wolves expanding out of a Beringia refuge to repopulate the wolf's former range, replacing the remaining Late Pleistocene wolf populations across Eurasia and North America as they did so.[12]
^Dawkins, William Boyd; Sanford, W. Ayshford; Reynolds, Sidney H. (1912). "British Pleistocene Hyænidæ, Ursidæ, Canidæ, and Mustelidæ". A Monograph of the British Pleistocene Mammalia. Vol. 2. London: Palaeontographical Society.
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