Dire wolves were the last of an ancient New World canid lineage
Nature, Published online: 13 January 2021; doi:10.1038/s41586-020-03082-x
Dire wolves split from living canids around 5.7 million years ago and originated in the New World isolated from the ancestors of grey wolves and coyotes, which evolved in Eurasia and colonized North America only relatively recently.
Source: Nature
