The gray wolf as a species goes back at least 11,700 years.
Gray wolf . It is the only species of Canis to have a range encompassing both the Old and New Worlds , and originated in Eurasia during the Pleistocene , colonizing North America on at least three separate occasions during the Rancholabrean . The Pleistocene ( [ pronˈplaɪstəˌsiːn , _ - toʊ - ] , often colloquially referred to as the Ice Age ) is the geological epoch which lasted from about 2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago , spanning the world 's most recent period of repeated glaciations .