BBC NEWS | South Asia | Indian wolves are world's oldest

DNA tests on an endangered variety of Indian wolf suggest it might be the most ancient representative of the animals anywhere in the world. Analysis of genetic material from one of the wolves shows that its lineage stems back around 800,000 years. Currently, these Himalayan wolves are regarded as belonging to the species Canis lupus, with other grey wolves. But scientists think they may be genetically different enough from other groups to comprise a separate species. Researchers at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), in Dehradun, analysed DNA from one such wolf housed in a nature park in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh. ...weiter