Scientists Claim Have Solved Falkland Island Wolf Origins Mystery

The mystery surrounding the origins and subsequent extinction of the Falkland Islands wolf may have been finally explained, a new research claims.

The wolf, which was the only terrestrial mammal on the island before being driven to extinction, was first spotted in the 17th century by European explorers – even commented on at some point by Charles Darwin.

The question as to how the wolf had found its way into the island had baffled scientists for centuries. The prevailing theory suggested that the feline had been brought to the island, 300 miles from mainland Argentina, by either boat or ice float.

According to AFP reports, recently scientists from Australia, Argentina and Chile have decided to tackle into the longstanding mystery. They compared museum fossils of the wolf, Dusicyon australis, to the genetic make-up of another South American mainland wolf and they found that the species' had a nearly identical genome.

The scientists also found that the two species began to diverge during the end of the ice age about 10,000 to 20,000 years ago.

At the time, the low sea levels might have allowed for continental Argentina to have stretched further out to sea nearly linking the island with the mainland.

During winter time, an ice bridge likely created a path that the wolf may have crossed to the Falklands, said Science NOW.

When the ice age came to end, the wolf became trapped on the island.

"The Eureka moment was finding evidence of submarine terraces off the coast of Argentina," study author Alan Cooper said, according to UPI.

"They recorded the dramatically lowered sea levels during the Last Glacial Maximum [around 25,000-18,000 years ago]."

The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.