Ancient human visitors complicate the Falkland Islands wolf’s origin story

Indigenous people arrived on the islands centuries before Europeans

illustration of Falkland Islands wolf

Scientists have debated how the Falkland Islands wolf (illustrated) first journeyed to the remote archipelago. Indigenous people arrived on the Falkland Islands up to 1,070 years ago, raising the possibility that the animal hitchhiked with humans, a new study finds.

J.G. Keulemans/Biodiversity Heritage Library

The enigmatic, now-extinct Falkland Islands wolf had human visitors on the remote archipelago up to 1,070 years ago.