08-31-2020, 05:08 PM
Quote:
On 2/3/2018 at 11:56 AM, arcticwolf said:
possible reasons dire wolves developed this adaptation compared to grey wolves that did not, and existed alongside dire wolves.
Something I remember reading somewhere in the past is that the differences in baculum between wolves and dire wolves is probably more an indication of behavioral differences. (Behavior normally being difficult to determine by fossil remains.)
In wolves mostly only the Alpha male and female breed. The others are tasked with providing food and care for the cubs of the alphas. Who the alphas are has been determined long before mating, there is almost no sexual competition. Thus no need to be hung like a horse, if Mr Alpha is a pencil-dick he has no competition anyway, so he's good.
Dire wolves were presumed to behave more like domestic street dogs; when a bitch was in heat a "heat pack" followed her around and multiple males mated with her. In this scenario the competition is sexual; there is less male infighting but the guy who could deliver more sperm deeper in the female would sire more pups, (and passing on the characteristic of "bigger bits = better breeding").
This way of doing things was presumed to be an advantage to dire wolves by avoiding the "pack hierarchy" structure of 2 breeders and their relatives, and going with most of them mating and raising pups for more of a "mega pack" of wolves that would be better able to bring down mammoths and the other massive game of the era.
So sort of a niche thing. Dire wolves being an adaptation suited for huge game. Grey wolves being suited to smaller and sparser game. And unfortunately the Dires going extinct when there were no longer huge food sources to sustain huge packs.
And oh yeah, I would have loved to have seen the bitch vaginas that mated those males.....