They find the only known fossil of the Ethiopian wolf from more than 1,5 million years ago

It is an endangered species that has lived in the Ethiopian highlands for more than 1,5 million years.

A work directed by Martínez-Navarro, a researcher at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleontology and Social Evolution (IPHES) and published in the journal "Communications Biology", has shown that the fossil, found at the Melka Wakena site (Ethiopia) is more than 1,5 million years ago and the presence of this endemic species of canid goes back in time.

The study, in which the universities of Malaga (southern Spain), Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), Frederick II of Naples and Florence (Italy), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Princeton and Berkeley (USA) have collaborated, provides also relevant data to develop recovery and conservation programs for one of the rarest and most threatened species in the world.

With a total population that does not reach 500 specimens distributed in different points of the highest mountains of Ethiopia, more than 3.000 meters above sea level, the chances of survival of this species are minimal, according to researchers.

Its appearance is more reminiscent of a primitive domestic dog than the typical Eurasian wolf. It is medium-sized, weighing between 12 and 18 kilos and covered by reddish-orange fur.

It feeds almost exclusively on rodents, among which the giant mole-rats (Tachyoryctes microcephalus) stand out, which constitute about 40% of the food it ingests, and complements its diet with hares and carrion, although on rare occasions it hunts antelopes and small domestic goats or sheep.

OLDER THAN THOUGHT

Until now it had been considered that this species had arrived in the Ethiopian highlands less than 100.000 years ago, but in 2017 the excavation at the Melka Wakena site, led by Erella Hovers and Tegenu Gossa, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, revealed discovered a fossil of a lower right jaw of "Canis simensis", the only fossil of this species found so far, which has now been dated to more than 1,5 million years.

According to IPHES, this finding provides "indisputable evidence of the early presence of the species in Africa" ​​and serves to investigate human evolution in Africa, in addition to helping the future survival of this species.

Furthermore, this paleontological finding has been key to modeling the bioclimatic niche of the Ethiopian wolf and generating an ecoclimatic model since the first arrival of the Ethiopian wolf to the African continent.

This model suggests that "Canis simensis" could only have survived in the Ethiopian highlands and that it would have already been on the verge of extinction during warm climatic times, while during cold periods, both its geographical distribution and the size of its Populations increased considerably.

According to IPHES researchers, the importance of the Melka Wakena fossil lies in the fact that, for the first time, relevant data is available to understand how the adaptation of this species of wolf to the highlands of Ethiopia has occurred over a long period of time. time and has allowed us to build future scenarios for their survival in conditions of extreme danger of extinction.

The projections range from the most pessimistic to the most optimistic future conditions, and indicate a significant reduction in habitable territories, which are already very deteriorated. EFE