• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

First-Ever Ethiopian Wolf Fossil Found Sheds Light On Their African Arrival

May 25, 2023 by Deborah Bloomfield

The Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) is one of the most endangered carnivore species in Africa. There are thought to be only around 500 individuals left in scattered populations across Ethiopia’s Bale and Simien mountains. Until now, the entry of the Ethiopian wolf into Ethiopia from Eurasia has not been known from the Pleistocene fossil record, but a new discovery represents the only fossil of an Ethiopian wolf, and sheds light on their likely arrival into this area. 

In 2017 a right jawbone was found in the Melka Wakena site-complex around 2,300 meters (7,546 feet) above sea level. Recovered in layers of volcanic ash dating back to 1.5 million years ago, the fossil was initially labeled as an unknown dog species.  This find represents the first and only Pleistocene fossil of this species and challenges previous assumptions that species arrived only 20,000 years ago. 

Advertisement
Three views showing the jaw bone of the wolf.

This is the only known Ethiopian wolf fossil.

Image credit: C.J Sharp; Distributed under CC BY-SA 4.0; Modified by S.

The fossil, known as MW5-B208, bears more resemblance to the Ethiopian wolf than to other living African dog species, such as African hunting dogs and jackals. The spaces between the teeth, for example, are similar between the fossil and extant Ethiopian wolves. By comparing the jawbone with three living species of jackal and the Ethiopian wolf, analysis revealed that the Melka Wakena fossil is that of an Ethiopian wolf. 

This finding represents the first-ever evidence that Ethiopian wolves were present in the Ethiopian highlands from at least 1.6 to 1.4 million years ago. 

The researchers suggest that the lack of fossil record for this species is likely due to their preference for highland habitats and the scarcity of paleontological sites in these areas, particularly outside the East African Rift System. They further suggest that the genetic data from their research and the discovery of the MW5-B208 specimen support the idea that the Ethiopian wolf has survived previous population crashes over the course of this time frame.

“Our research indicates that the Ethiopian wolf faced multiple extinction threats during periods of globally warm climates,” explained Professor Erella Hovers, one of the leading researchers of the study, in a statement sent to IFLScience. “The recovery of the species occurred when colder conditions allowed the expansion of populations into lower areas, increasing the species’ territories and promoting connectivity between populations. The Melka Wakena fossil, recovered from a site at an altitude of 2,300 meters above sea level, likely represents such a recovery period.”

Advertisement

The team stresses the importance of finding conservation solutions that can work towards protecting this iconic African species. 

The paper is published in Communications Biology.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Tennis-Scrappy Sakkari survives gruelling three-setter to beat Andreescu
  2. Cricket-NZ players reach Dubai after ‘specific, credible threat’ derailed Pakistan tour
  3. Accel, Tiger and Stripe’s COO back Mexico City-based Higo as it raises $23M for its B2B payments platform
  4. The Cat Flap Is Surprisingly Ancient, And Not The Work Of Isaac Newton

Source Link: First-Ever Ethiopian Wolf Fossil Found Sheds Light On Their African Arrival

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Did You Know The World’s Largest Waterfall Is Underwater?
  • Video Game Study Found Out What People Do When The World Ends, And It’s Exactly What You’d Expect
  • How Do We Predict The Weather? Find Out More In Issue 40 Of CURIOUS – Out Now
  • You Should Never Leave These Foods In Your Fridge Door (But We Bet You Do)
  • These Gullies On Mars Look Carved – We Might Finally Know What Created Them
  • Potential Environmental Trigger For Autism Identified, 3I/ATLAS’s Tail Appears To Have Changed Direction, And Much More This Week
  • Spaghetti Has Inner Secrets We’re Only Just Learning About
  • How Far Back In Time Could You Go And Still Understand English?
  • We Now Know How The First People Reached America – And It Wasn’t On Foot
  • Two Major Coral Species Now Functionally Extinct In Florida Keys, After Record-Breaking Marine Heatwave
  • A “Super-Earth” In The Habitable Zone Is Half The Distance To Comparable Worlds
  • Adorable But Critically Endangered Bornean Orangutan Born In Conservation Success
  • How Did The FDA Settle On The “2,000 Calories Per Day” Guideline?
  • Comet 3I/ATLAS Losing At Least Two Kangaroos’ Worth Of Dust Every Second
  • Mummified Dinosaur Duo Prove They Had Hooves, Marking “The First Confirmed Hooved Reptile”
  • What Do The Numbers On Your Toaster Really Mean?
  • NASA Vs. Elon Musk: Is A Moon Landing This Decade Off The Cards?
  • Scientists Explored Some Of The Deepest Parts Of The Ocean And Spotted Some Seriously Weird Deep-Sea Creatures
  • 500-Meter-Tall Megatsunami Struck Remote Alaskan Fjord After Massive Landslide
  • 3I/ATLAS, CKM Syndrome, And Mosquitoes’ Final Frontier
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version