The gray or timber wolf is a member of the family Canidae, which includes several other wolf species, coyotes, foxes, jackals, bush dogs, raccoon dogs, the Australian dingo, the African wild dog, and the many different breeds of domestic dogs. All canids have specialized teeth - molars and premolars - that are adapted for slicing flesh.
Fossil evidence suggest that the first true canids appeared approximately 40 million years ago and that ancestors of the modern gray wolf first appeared in Europe and North America only a few million years ago. One of these, the dire wolf, was perhaps the largest member of the dog family ever to exist. It lived alongside mammoths, mastodons, giant ground sloths, saber-toothed cats and camels that used to inhabit this continent. The dire wolf became extinct approximately 10,000 years ago.
Today, wild members of the family Canidae are found on every continent except Antarctica. The smallest species is the fennec fox of Africa, the largest is the gray wolf. Most canids live in social groups called packs that mark and defend a territory.
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