# How dire is the dire wolf? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 9, 2025, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814 "2025-04-09T02:38:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/61 "2025-04-15T14:50:52Z")
I don’t see that you included them in your list. “Terror” something sounds more frightening than “dire”, to my mind anyway. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/62 "2025-04-15T14:58:56Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Deinonychus was a non avian theropod dinosaur, very similar to Velociraptor but larger. “Terror birds” lived much later and are avian dinosaurs, like birds. Sorry – my memory played me false there. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/63 "2025-04-15T21:27:23Z")
Of course, in D&D, darned near every animal has a dire version. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/64 "2025-04-15T21:48:42Z")
It’s right there in the name: Dire and direr. Right? 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/65 "2025-04-15T23:12:22Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > I’m not sure what Dire Straights are and I’m not sure I want to find out. I’m pretty sure I dated one in the 90s. She was both straight and, as it turns out, pretty dire. Lessons learned from that one. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/66 "2025-04-15T23:18:42Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Incidentally, everyone’s comparing this to Jurassic Park, but it more closely resembles Douglas Preston’s 2024 novel **Extinction** , in which the prehistoric theme park is filled not with dinosaurs recovered from DNA in mosquito blood, but with “de-extincted” Cenozoic mammals recovered by genetic manipulation and back-breeding of existing species to try to recover animals from a more recent era. – Wooly Mammoths, Irish Elk, Giant Sloths, etc. Sounds like an updating of the attempt to recreate the aurochs during the period before World War II by the Heck brothers. > **[Heck cattle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heck_cattle)** > > The Heck or Munich-Berlin is a German breed or type of domestic cattle. It was bred in the 1920s by Heinz and Lutz Heck in an attempt to breed back the extinct aurochs (Bos primigenius).: 196  Controversy revolves around methodology and success of the programme. There are considerable differences between Heck cattle and the aurochs in build, height, and body proportions. Furthermore, there are other cattle breeds which resemble their wild ancestors at least as much as Heck cattle.\[page n Heck cat... ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/67 "2025-04-16T03:26:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Of course, in D&D, darned near every animal has a dire version. I want a dire sloth ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/68 "2025-04-16T10:49:59Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I want a dire sloth “It’s a Dire Sloth! Walk for your lives!!” ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/69 "2025-04-16T11:56:12Z")
Their claws are rather huge and certainly dangerous when backed by multiple tons, but yeah their top speed is estimated to be about 5 mph. We do have DNA for them, so it’s possible to play genetic games with it. It’s thought that plants like avocados evolved their big seeds to survive their digestion. Interestingly, the species was scientifically described in 1796; that’s how the species has the simple name “big beast”. > **[Megatherium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatherium)** > > Megatherium (/mɛɡəˈθɪəriəm/ meg-ə-THEER-ee-əm; from Greek méga (μέγα) 'great' + theríon (θηρίον) 'beast') is an extinct genus of ground sloths endemic to South America that lived from the Early Pliocene through the end of the Late Pleistocene. It is best known for the elephant-sized type species Megatherium americanum, primarily known from the Pampas, but ranging southwards to northernmost Patagonia and northwards to southern Bolivia during the late Middle Pleistocene and Late Pleistocene. Th... ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/70 "2025-04-16T12:31:17Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Their claws are rather huge and certainly dangerous when backed by multiple tons, but yeah their top speed is estimated to be about 5 mph. We do have DNA for them, so it’s possible to play genetic games with it. The Megatherium shows up as the Really Dangerous Creature in the 1948 movie **Unknown Island** (which also features some very unconvincing T. rexes that look like people in T. Rex costumes, much like the ones sold today). The Giant Ground Sloth actually looks and cts more like a misshapen ape than a Giant Ground Sloth, but at least they get points for trying something new. > **[Unknown Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unknown_Island)** > > Unknown Island is a 1948 American adventure film directed by Jack Bernhard and starring Virginia Grey, Phillip Reed and Richard Denning. Shot in Cinecolor it was released by Film Classics and in Britain by General Film Distributors. > Adventure-seeker Ted Osborne (Phillip Reed) and his fiancée Carole (Virginia Grey) are at a cafe in Singapore, looking for a charter to an island supposedly inhabited by dinosaurs. They come across the ruthless, two fisted, alcohol-suffering Captain Tarnowski (Barton... We actually have specimens of Megatherium hide, which has a gazillion tiny bony nodules embedded in it, making it like a coat of stony mail. > **[Prehistoric Giant Sloths Had Chain-Mail Armor Of Bone Mesh To Stop Predators](https://www.birminghamtimes.com/2022/03/prehistoric-giant-sloths-had-chain-mail-armor-of-bone-mesh-to-stop-predators/)** > > By Joseph Golder Prehistoric giant sloths had armor like chain-mail, made of a bone mesh embedded in their skin to stop predators from sinking their teeth and claws into them, according to new rese… > **[Megatherium](https://prehistoric-earth-a-natural-history.fandom.com/wiki/Megatherium)** > > Megatherium (name meaning "Giant Beast"), sometimes called the Giant Ground Sloth, is a genus of elephant-sized ground sloth that originated during the Pleistocene epoch in what is now South America. Measuring 7 meters long and weighing 3 tons, it... There’s a sample of this on display at the American Museum of Natural Hstory in New York. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/71 "2025-04-16T14:53:34Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > We actually have specimens of Megatherium hide, which has a gazillion tiny bony nodules embedded in it, making it like a coat of stony mail. Yep. My personal favorite of extinct mammals is the dire armadillo, commonly called the [glyptodont](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Glyptodont). Sloths, armadillos, and anteaters are related and have bony hides to greater or lesser extent. Glyptodonts take it too the extreme. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Glyptodon-1.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Glyptodon-1.jpg) They could get as large as two tons. Not something to mess around with. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/72 "2025-04-16T17:15:41Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > but with “de-extincted” Cenozoic mammals recovered by genetic manipulation and back-breeding of existing species to try to recover animals from a more recent era. – Wooly Mammoths, Irish Elk, Giant Sloths, etc. Of course, in this novel, too, Things Go Horribly Wrong and lots of people get killed. Honestly, that might lead to a few deaths, but no Cenozoic mammal is much more dangerous than the polar or kodiak bear or the tiger. Sure the short face bear was somewhat larger, but the Smilodon is only slightly larger than a tiger. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > The Megatherium shows up as the Really Dangerous Creature in the 1948 movie **Unknown Island** It would be an animal “not to be messed with” but not otherwise dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/73 "2025-04-16T21:32:55Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I want a dire sloth [Here](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/sloth/sloth-dire-tohc/) you [go](https://www.5esrd.com/database/creature/sloth-giant/). ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/74 "2025-04-17T02:07:18Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > “It’s a Dire Sloth! Walk for your lives!!” I once got a DM to promise to add in a dire snail. But the game ended too soon. I still miss the possibilities. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/75 "2025-04-17T11:08:05Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Honestly, that might lead to a few deaths, but no Cenozoic mammal is much more dangerous than the polar or kodiak bear or the tiger. I dunno – a Polar Bear or a Tiger seems pretty dangerous to me. And even if it wasn’t angry, I would think you could get a lot of collateral damage from a Paraceratherium (formerly the Baluchitherium. I don’t know if the name change makes it more angry or not), even if it wasn’t mad at you. As for Unknown Island’s Giant Ground Sloth, as I mentioned, it acted and looked more like a mutant giant ape. Don’t rely on movie makers (or thriller novelists) to stick t strict accuracy when the plot is on the line. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814/76 "2025-04-17T18:51:11Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I dunno – a Polar Bear or a Tiger seems pretty dangerous to me. They certainly are- But there are less than a hundred tiger attack deaths and injuries most years and the same for bears. However, even if a whole zoo worth of “lions and tigers and bears” (oh my), got loose, the casualties would be that bad- even dinos wouldnt cause the devastation that Jurassic park showed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dire-is-the-dire-wolf/1016814.md?page=3)