This program is about the Dire Wolf and the comparison between that animal and the modern wolf. The shepherd breeds are meant to show the lighter modern wolf’s attack style. The Dutch shepherd attacked the same way that the Fila Mastiff and the American Bulldog did. It’s funny, but the Dutch Shephered is often judged by the same standard as the Malinois. I wonder if a really hardcore Malinois were used, one that came from heavier breeding, that the results might have been different.
The Dire Wolf had a bigger head than a modern wolf and much more massive teeth. It may have been slightly dumber than the modern wolf, because many of these animals were killed in the La Brea Tarpits. But that’s horrible speculation.
Head sizes are key to dog bite strength, as this video points out. Wolves, for example, have a bite strength twice that of a similar-sized German shepherd. Wolves have massive heads, especially those races of wolf that have evolved to hunt large game like Moose. Mastiff dogs often have very strong bites. I know this because I had a cross between a golden and boxer, with the boxer predominating. When we fed our dogs bones, the boxer cross could crunch the strongest bones, while her retriever friends could not. Working retrievers don’t have large, muscular heads when compared to the Molosser breeds. (They probably have bigger brains, though!).
This program is excellent. If it’s ever on National Geographic, I highly recommend it.
No dog or wolf alive, though, has the bite of the Dire Wolf. Even our big mastiffs and big wolves can’t equal that bite force of that animal. It must have been a site to behold! (BTW, the Dire wolf was only about a hundred pounds in weight, roughly the size of the average male wolf from the Northern and Western subpecies).
[…] It is true that domestication has reduced the size of the dog’s brain, along with its teeth, the length of its muzzle, and the size of its skull. These traits exist in all domestic dogs, even the molosser breeds that have what appears to be large heads. Their heads are smaller than those of wolves. And head size is really important for bite strength. […]
pitbulls bites are stronger then German shepherds because I tested this when they both were a puppy
Science says otherwise.
How can you say that when you tested them (pit bull and German Shepherd) when they were pups? They’re not even full grown yet.
You sound like my sister’s illiterate boyfriend. He speaks as though his pitbull is a weapon.
Actually, I saw Brady Barr replicate the experiment, and the dogs were adults.
Just remember that these people ruin pit bulls for everyone else.
“You sound like my sister’s illiterate boyfriend”…..I love it
I want to know why they misspelled SHEPHERD. I’ve never seen where people spell it SHEPARD unless they are illiterate, but maybe it IS spelled that way in some countries. I just know Shepherd is the way you spell German Shepherd.
Where I grew up, that’s how most people spell it.
I think this happens because there is a legendary thief from England who worked his way into our folklore– Jack Sheppard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Sheppard
Lobo, a wolf shot in 1893 in North central New Mexico, was called the “giant cattle killing wolf” and in fact weighed 207 pounds lean weight. This was an animal that was an exceptional runner and escaped attempts on his life many times. What a bite he must have had. And LOL I still recall the STUPID veterinarian who insisted that a wolf’s teeth are no longer than a domestic dog’s of similar bodyweight. They sure as hell are longer and thicker except maybe for Irish Wolfhound. It may have taken 2 on 1 for wolfhounds to best wolves. Wolves also average better problem solvers (more intelligent) than domestic dogs because domestics have people to solve problems for them. Domestication tended towards lesser jaw strength because bones began to be withheld from dogs diets, and lost the adaptation of crushing the stoutest bones.
That’s exactly right.
Do you know how many pit bull people I’ve tried to explain this to? The Russians used three borzoi to bring down one wolf. And then they could only do it if they were able to run down the wolf and catch it by the neck on two sides before the wolf could fight back.
This is how I understand wolves versus dogs. Dogs are bonobos; wolves are chimpanzees.
[…] From this same documentary, I got another good video, which can be seen on this post. […]
I think that at similar weight , a pit-bull bite more strong that a germany shepherd ! ex : test bite force: 2 pit-bulls : around 108 kg & 127kg ; 3 dogs of shepherd: malinois: 88kg = 195psi , germany: 108kg , holland: 105kg ( national geographic TV & site web: fuerza del mordida perros ) ; I think that a golden retriever or a lavrador can bite + of 100kg of pressure !
Pit bulls are a lot smaller than GSD’s.
I heard somewhere that bite measurement statistics are inherently invalid as a dog bites down with different strengths depending on the situation and the dog’s temperament.
Even a very nasty bite from a dog is likely not representative of the animal’s full strength. This is why most people bitten by dogs have tissue-crush wounds or need a few stitches, rather than getting their hand or face gouged through or ripped off completely. If you want a true measurement of strength, you’ll have to figure out how to measure bite pressure when the dog is in a true predatory situation, killing something, instead of biting a sleeve on command.
I like well many prehistoric carnivora : dire wolf ; smilodon ; dinocrocuta , bear short-faced , andrewsarkus , hyenodon and others … have you one idea of the bite force ( force de morsure / machoire ) : of jaguar ( 700 psi ? ) ; of giant panda ; of cheetah ; of grizzly bear ( 1200 psi ? ) and of orca whale ( 7000psi ? ) ?
“The Dire Wolf had a bigger head than a modern wolf and much more massive teeth. It may have been slightly dumber than the modern wolf, because many of these animals were killed in the La Brea Tarpits. But that’s horrible speculation.”
Of course, since many modern wolves were also caught in the LaBrea tarpits, this argument pretty much flies out the window.
The fact that both dire wolves and modern wolves were caught in the tarpits has little to do with innate intelligence and everything to do with predatory instincts. Most of the carnivores, including predatory birds and vultures, were caught because they were trying to bring down and feed on prey animals which were also caught in the asphalt.
The simple truth is that far more dire wolves were caught than modern wolves because, at that time in history, they outcompeted and outnumbered them in the Los Angeles basin.
People who study dogs and wolves tend to go on and on about brain size and encephalization quotients in different species/subspecies in the genus Canis.
It’s not very intellectually rigorous.