The Mother Of All Wolves

So where is the original "wolf" that all different kinds of wolves evolved from? For humans, the "cradle" may have been Africa, but for wolves, the "cradle" appears to have been India. Mitochondrial DNA testing shows that Indian wolves are the most ancient of the wolf species.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Couple of questions, hope you can shed some light, I'm no animal expert. (Although I do watch a lot of Steve Irwin). If they are so similar to other species why haven't they inter-bred? And it seems strange that in 800000 years they have not evolved, in such a rapidly changing environment. How can they pin-point the moment one species turns into the next?

Originally posted by angloshot
Couple of questions, hope you can shed some light, I'm no animal expert. (Although I do watch a lot of Steve Irwin). If they are so similar to other species why haven't they inter-bred?

I'm not sure what you're asking, here.

If you mean "can they interbreed with other wolves" the answer is "yes." You can breed them with American wolves, for instance.

If you mean, "why haven't they interbred with Russian wolves" the answer is "well, the Russian wolves live a VERY long way from India and they're adapted for a different climate. They COULD interbreed if they ever got together, but there's the Himalayas and other mountains in the way of such a romantic coupling.

And it seems strange that in 800000 years they have not evolved, in such a rapidly changing environment. How can they pin-point the moment one species turns into the next?

They have evolved, but at the species level. The differences are small but significant -- like the differences between the Bengal tiger and the Siberian tiger. If you're not a student of tigers, you see "large stripey feline carnivore -- EEEK!" and not "wow. Okay, so the coat conformation and other traits indicate this is the Bengal tiger and not the Siberian one."

Genetic tests (no, I don't know the specifics, yes I suppose I need to find out) determine if you've got a new species or not.

From the link posted above:

Hunting and loss of habitat have sharply reduced the Himalayan wolf population. According to one estimate, there could be as few as 350 left in the entire western Himalayan region.

How sad that people are close to destroying yet another species. Wolves are incredibly misunderstood, complex, and smart creatures.

Originally posted by AmethystWolf
From the link posted above:

Hunting and loss of habitat have sharply reduced the Himalayan wolf population. According to one estimate, there could be as few as 350 left in the entire western Himalayan region.

How sad that people are close to destroying yet another species. Wolves are incredibly misunderstood, complex, and smart creatures.

yes they are. they are beautiful and misunderstood creatures

Ok, thanks for clearing that up Byrd. I actually meant, 'Why haven't this species of wolf interbred, and basically formed one species?' Although I understand why now, and I retract that.

And yes, I agree with AmethystWolf and FredH too.