A study published on Tuesday in the journal Communications Biology under the title “The earliest Ethiopian wolf: implications for the species evolution and its future survival,” unambiguously proves that the ancient Ethiopian wolf Canis simensis existed in Africa some 1.5 million years ago and not 20,000 years ago according to previous theories that suggested the mammal arrived from EuroAsia. The discovery “constitutes the first empirical evidence that supports molecular interpretations.”
The team included Prof. Bienvenido Martínez-Navarro at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution and Dr. Gadi Herzlinger and Prof. Erella Hovers of HU’s Institute of Archaeology.
In 2017, the jawbone from the ancient wolf was found at the Melka Wakena site in the southeastern Ethiopian highlands about 2,300 meters above sea level.
The specimen is the first and only Pleistocene fossil of this species, the team wrote. Today, this species is one of the most endangered carnivores in Africa.
“Bioclimate modeling applied to the time-frame indicated by the fossil suggested that the lineage of the Ethiopian wolf faced severe survival challenges, with consecutive drastic geographic range contractions during warmer periods. These models help to describe future scenarios for the survival of the species,” the authors continued.
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