The first set of DIRE WOLF photos from La Brea are exactly what I was thinking. If PJ used this breed, then it was no great matter (!) to configure the software to make the skeletons move and to flesh 'em out and give them fur.<P>The fur pattern cannot be guessed from the skeletons, but that alone can create a great variation in appearance. <P>Comparing a modern wolf skeleton with a modern hyena skull and the Dire Wolf skull reveals more than the reconstructions that in the first case linked above favors the hyena, and in the next favors the wolf.<P>Looking at the hyena, the Dire Wolf (<I>canis dirus</I>), and PJ's Warg (<I>canis vargus jacksonus</I>), you can see that the PJ Warg has a great development of the musculature. This is logical because of the Dire Wolf's teeth being larger than the modern wolf, so for the Dire Wolf had bigger bones to crunch in the critters they hunted.<P>However, the PJ Warg has his eyes set further forward than the Dire Wolf, more like the Hyena. Furthermore, the Dire Wolf, though larger than a Grey Wolf, is smaller than a Timber Wolf. Tolkien's Wargs (<I>canis vargus tolkienus</I>) were as big as PJ Wargs, big enough to ride, and most of us seem to think that they looked more like modern wolves than not.<P>Still, I do remember some sort of prehistoric canine that fits the bill for PJ's Wargs, and it seemed to me that the muscular model shown in the first Dire Wolf link was appropriate to what PJ did, excepting in size.<P>Thanks for all the hard work digging up (heh, heh) the DIRE WOLF, which in some depictions does seem to be the creature that PJ used to bring Tolkien's WARG to life. Perhaps the question is not answered to everyone's satisfaction, but it seems that the bell did ring clearly enough and my memory is not yet entirely shot.<P>Now, about them Oliphaunts...<p>[ February 14, 2003: Message edited by: Gilthalion ]
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