substantial evidence of a population bottleneck (reduction) in which the ancient wolf diversity was almost lost at the beginning of the Holocene. In Eurasia, the loss of many ancient lineages cannot be simply explained and appears to have been slow across time with reasons unclear. Descendants In 2021, an mDNA analysis of modern and extinct North American wolf-like canines indicates that the Beringian wolf was the ancestor of the southern wolf clade, which includes the Mexican wolf and the extinct Great Plains wolf. The Mexican wolf is the most ancestral of the gray wolves that live in North America today. The modern coyote appeared around 10,000 years ago. The most genetically basal coyote mDNA clade pre-dates the Late Glacial Maximum and is a haplotype that can only be found in the Eastern wolf. This implies that the large, wolf-like Pleistocene coyote was the ancestor of the Eastern wolf. Further, another ancient haplotype detected in the Eastern wolf can be found only in the Mexican wolf. The study proposes that Pleistocene coyote and Beringian wolf admixture led to the Eastern wolf long before the arrival of the modern coyote and the modern wolf. Notes References External links Beringian wolf mandible dated 31,700 YBP showing large, sharp lower carnassial – Museum of the North, University of Alaska (Arctos database) Beringian wolf mandible dated 31,700 YBP – other side view of the specimen above Beringian Research Notes – Ancient Northern Wolves Government of the Yukon Ice Age Mammals of the Yukon Government of the Yukon Wolves Pleistocene carnivorans Prehistoric canines Prehistoric mammals of North America Extinct animals of the United States Extinct animals of Canada