The Evolutionary history of the wolf is not totaly clear, but many biologists believe that the wolf developed from primitive carnivores known as miacids which had developed from the creodnts. Miacids ranged from gopher-sized to dog-sized animals, and appeared in the Lower Tertiary about fifty two million years ago.The Miacids in turn developed into the Hesperocyon. Which were larger than the Miacids and more so shapped like a wolf or a fox. The Hesperocyon than evolved into the Cynodictis which more so resembled the Miacids in size and apperance. The Cynodictis than evolved into the Tomarctus, which resembled the Hesperocyon and closley the German Shepard. From there the Canidae evolved such as the Wolves, Jackals, Hyenas and Foxes.

The genus Canis underwent a mixed fate at the end of the Pleistocene. The gray wolf and coyote survived the extinction that occurred approximately 10,000 years ago. The dire wolf, however, was one of the animals that did not survive. Perhaps the dire wolf depended on scavenging the remains of the large herbivores of the last Ice Age. The extinction of these herbivores may have then led to the extinction of the dire wolf. Scientists do not know if this is the case; however, they continue to search for the reason that many kinds of mammals went extinct about 10,000 years ago.

The grey wolf was well was established in North America by the time the first Native American and Inuit Peoples came across the Beringia, about eighteen thousand years ago. And from the wolven, came the evolution of the domestic dog. Some however believe that the dog is not a direct desendent of the wolf, and that it evolved from a different ancestor.