An analysis of fossils from southern California's La Brea tar pits hints that the dire wolf, a species that died out at the end of the last ice age, had a social structure similar to that of its modern-day relatives. Dire wolves are the most common predators entombed at La Brea (SN: 1/24/04, p. 56). Adults were only slightly larger than today's gray wolves but had larger, broader heads and stronger teeth, which the creatures presumably used to crush bones (SN: 7/27/02, p. 51).
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