The ice-cold wolf in Game of Thrones is a distant relative of the modern wolf

Xinhua News Agency, Canberra, January 18 (Reporter Bai Xu Yue Dongxing) From the University of Adelaide, Australia and other institutions of the international research team through DNA (deoxybonucleic acid) sequencing found that the
game appeared in the ice wolf is nearly 6 million years ago born branch, is a distant relative of modern wolves.
the study, carried out by the University of Adelaide, Durham University and the University of California, Los Angeles, has been published in the British journal Nature.
ice wolves once lived in North America and be extinct about 13,000 years ago.
the first time, the international team sequenced the ancient DNA of five ice-sheet wolf sub-fossils (less petrified remains) from Wyoming, Idaho, Ohio and Tennessee, some of which are 50,000 years old. This is the first time people have obtained ancient DNA from ice wolves. Their analysis shows that modern wolves such as ice wolves and gray wolves are distant relatives.
researchers believe that ice wolves differ greatly from other canines, including coyotes and gray wolves.
, a researcher from the University of Adelaide, said: "Despite the anatomical similarities between grey wolves and ice wolves... Our genetic results suggest that they are more like distant cousins, like humans and chimpanzees. Researchers
found that, unlike many canines, which migrate repeatedly between North America and Eurasia, ice wolves have only evolved in North America for millions of years.
although the pre-extinction ice wolves overlapped with coyotes and gray wolves for at least 10,000 years, the researchers found no evidence that they interbred with the 2nd wolves. The researchers believe that their deep evolutionary differences mean that they may not be able to adapt to changing external conditions at the end of the ice age.