section_path: Adaptation/Dentition and bite force
section_name: Dentition and bite force
paragraph_text: Dentition and bite force
  
  When compared with the dentition of genus Canis members, the dire wolf was considered the most evolutionary derived (advanced) wolf-like species in the Americas. The dire wolf could be identified separately from all other Canis species by its possession of "P2 with a posterior cusplet; P3 with two posterior cusplets; M1 with a mestascylid, entocristed, entoconulid, and a transverse crest extending from the metaconid to the hyperconular shelf; M2 with entocristed and entoconulid."
  
  A study of the estimated bite force at the canine teeth of a large sample of living and fossil mammalian predators, when adjusted for the body mass, found that for placental mammals the bite force at the canines (in newtons /kilogram of body weight) was greatest in the dire wolf (163), followed among the modern canids by the four hypercarnivores that often prey on animals larger than themselves: the African hunting dog (142), the gray wolf (136), the dhole (112), and the dingo (108). The bite force at the carnassials showed a similar trend to the canines. A predator's largest prey size is strongly influenced by its biomechanical limits. The morphology of the dire wolf was similar to that of its living relatives, and assuming that the dire wolf was a social hunter, then its high bite force relative to living canids suggests that it preyed on relatively large animals. The bite force rating of the bone-consuming spotted hyena (117) challenged the common assumption that high bite force in the canines and the carnassials was necessary to consume bone.
  
  A study of the cranial measurements and jaw muscles of dire wolves found no significant differences with modern gray wolves in all but 4 of 15 measures. Upper dentition was the same except that the dire wolf had larger dimensions, and the P4 had a relatively larger, more massive blade that enhanced slicing ability at the carnassial. The jaw of the dire wolf had a relatively broader and more massive temporalis muscle, able to generate slightly more bite force than the gray wolf. Due to the jaw arrangement, the dire wolf had less temporalis leverage than the gray wolf at the lower carnassial (m1) and lower p4, but the functional significance of this is not known. The lower premolars were relatively slightly larger than those of the gray wolf, and the dire wolf m1 was much larger and had more shearing ability. The dire wolf canines had greater bending strength than those of living canids of equivalent size and were similar to those of hyenas and felids. All these differences indicate that the dire wolf was able to deliver stronger bites than the gray wolf, and with its flexible and more rounded canines was better adapted for struggling with its prey.