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Historical and present range of gray wolf subspecies in North America [needs update] 100 lb (45 kg) gray wolf killed in Montana, 1928. Before they were extirpated around 1930, Montana's wolves could be very large. Wolves recolonized the state from Canada beginning in the 1970s.
Northwestern wolves are one of the largest subspecies of wolves. In British Columbia, Canada, five adult females averaged 42.5 kg or 93.6 lbs with a range of 85 lbs to 100 lbs (38.6 - 45.4 kg) and ten adult males averaged 112.2 lbs or 51.7 kg with a range of 105 lbs to 135 lbs (47.6 - 61.2 kg), with a weight range for all adults of 38.6 kg to 61.2 kg (85 - 135 lbs). [9]
Two gray wolves were captured in north-central Washington state in July 2008, one of which was a nursing female. This was the first evidence of reproducing wolves in the state since the 1930s. [135] As of the end of 2022, Washington has at least 216 wolves in 37 packs with 5 breeding pairs. [136]
This map uses the more broadly defined North American subspecies of Nowak (1995), [1] [2] but see also the map under the section titled North America. There are 38 subspecies of Canis lupus listed in the taxonomic authority Mammal Species of the World (2005, 3rd edition).
Vancouver Island wolves measure between 1.2 and 1.5 metres (4 and 5 ft) from nose to tail-tip, and are noticeably lighter than their interior counterparts, weighing between 29 and 40 kilos (65-90lbs), as opposed to the 36 to 68 kilos (80-150lbs) of a mainland British Columbia wolf. [2]
The Mexican wolf is the most ancestral of the gray wolves that live in North America today. The modern coyote appeared around 10,000 years ago. The most genetically basal coyote mDNA clade pre-dates the Last Glacial Maximum and is a haplotype that can only be found in the Eastern wolf.
In 2021, a mitochondrial DNA analysis of North American wolf-like canines indicates that the extinct Late Pleistocene Beringian wolf was the ancestor of the southern wolf clade, which includes the Mexican wolf and the Great Plains wolf. The Mexican wolf is the most ancestral of the gray wolves that live in North America today. [18]
Two wolf subspecies that live in the northern Rocky Mountains: Canis lupus irremotus (left) and Canis lupus occidentalis (right) The northern Rocky Mountain wolf preys primarily on the bison, elk, the Rocky Mountain mule deer, and the beaver, though it is an opportunistic animal and will prey upon other species if the chance arises.