• 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

  • Scientists Perplexed By 407-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Plant That Doesn’t Follow The Fibonacci Sequence
  • This Giant Goldfish Hybrid Weighs As Much As A 10-Year-Old – A Stark Warning About Dumping Pets
  • Scientists Gave Mice Neanderthal And Denisovan Genes. The Results Were Intriguing
  • 2024 Saw Higher Levels Of Carbon Dioxide In The Atmosphere Than Ever Before
  • Halloween Fireballs Will Grace Our Skies As The Taurid Meteor Showers Arrive
  • Newly Discovered Hunting Megastructures Suggest Pre-Bronze Age Societies More Sophisticated Than Previously Thought
  • What Is Spectroscopy And Why Is It So Important To Science?
  • Parkinson’s “Trigger” Seen For The First Time: Scientists Image The Toxic Molecules Inside The Human Brain
  • What Flying Animals Exist That Are Not Birds?
  • DNA Evidence Uncovers Surprising Origins Of Native Americans
  • Single Gene Swap “Transfers A Behavior” Between Two Species For The First Time
  • Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Has A Rare “Anti-Tail”, New Observations Confirm
  • Asteroid Apophis: Animation Shows Asteroid’s Nail-Biting Close Approach To Earth In 2029
  • Titan Breaks A Key Chemistry Rule: What That Means For Alien Life
  • Scientists Studied “Chicago Rat Hole” – They Have Bad News, The South Atlantic’s Magnetic Field Weak Spot Is Growing, And Much More This Week
  • Could This Be The Real Reason Humans Survived And Neanderthals Died Out?
  • Newly Discovered Snail Species Named After Studio Ghibli Co-Founder Is A Hairy Beauty
  • 2025 SC79 Is The Second-Fastest Asteroid Ever Found – And Only The Second Within Venus’ Orbit
  • When Red Devil Spiders Arrived On A New Island, Their Genome Dramatically Shrank In Half
  • Is This The World’s Oldest Story? Ancient Human Tale About The Seven Sisters May Be From 100,000 BCE
  • 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