The Evolution of Canis Lupus

Canis Lupus occidentalis

• black, white, gray tan and even blue-ish coat
• 30 inches shoulder height, weigh 85-115 pounds
• inhabits parts of western US, western Canada, and Alaska with territory size in Alasaka of 600 square miles on average
• reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in 1995-6
• one of the most sophisticated social orders
• 6-12 Northwestern wolves per pack, with some packs as large as 20-30

Canis Lupus Arctos

• adapted well to icy environment (Arctic)
• white fur, allowing them to camouflage into the snowy habitat
• low density - territories of over 1000 square miles
• main prey: musk oxen and arctic hare
• unable to dig dens in permafrost, their dens are found in rocks, caves, or shallow depressions in the tundra soil
• scarcity of prey leads to less offspring

Subspecies of canis lupus

Subspecies of gray wolves are distinguished on the basis of their current/former geographic distribution.

1. Occidentalis

(Alaskan Wolves)

2. Arctos

(Arctic Wolves)

3. Nubilus

(Great Plains Wolves)

4. Lycaon

(Eastern Wolves)

5. Baileyi

(Mexican Wolves)

canis lupus baileyi

canis lupus lycaon

• Mexican gray wolves in the SSP are not owned by any one zoo, they are placed on loan to a zoo or wildlife facility, by the US Fish & Wildlife Servic and the Mexican government
• Decisions on transfers and breeding are made based upon science, and careful management - hence the world's most endangered wolf is still being preserved
• Largest of the canin family, but are the rarest, smallest and most genetically distinct subsepcies of gray wolves
• Mixtures of black, gray, white, red and brown
• Central & southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, southwestern Texas and the Sierra Madre (Mexico highlands)
• Habitat: oak forests, pine forests adjacent to open areas at elevations ranging from 4500-9000 feet above sea level
• Major pre species: elk, mule deer, whitetail deer, pronghorn, javalina, other small mammals

"Few animals have ever haunted our dreams or fired our imaginations more than the wolf. Unfortunately, by the early part of this century, man had almost exterminated the wolf from the lower 48 states. The recovery of the wolf is becoming an impressive conservation success story and a gift to future generations"

- Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior.

• eastern timber wolf
• first subspecies of the gray wolf
• inhabited eastern portions of the US and southeastern parts of Canada
• occupied most habitats except deserts a high mountaintops
• primary prey base: white-tail deer, moose, and beaver
• natural recolonization is unlikely, due to landscape barriers/urban areas

What is a Canis Lupus?

(Grey Wolf)

Evolution?

canis lupus nubilus

• largest of the wild dog family
• endangered species
• extremely adaptable
• carnivores
• travel and hunt in packs
• largest range of land mammal

• Early ancestors: creodents (predatory mammal) that first walked the northern hemisphere between 100 and 120 million years ago
• 55 million years ago, creodents gave rise to the carnassials (wolf-like animals)
• Miacis (from the carnassials family) is thought to be the ancestor of all present day wolves
• Between 4.5 and 9 million years ago, the revent ancestors of wolves divided off from the ancestor of foxes
• 130 to 300 million years ago, North American wolves went to Eurasia and settled themselves there, evolving into Canis Lupus before returning
• Fossil records have shown that wolf species that never left North America became diffeernt from those who had left and returned

• most common subspecies of gray wolf in US
• historic range was throughout the US and southern Canada, now found in the western Great Lakes region of the US and Canada
• average pack size is 5-6 wolves
• typical prey: white-tailed deer, moose, beaver, snowshoe hare, smaller birds/mammals

The Evolution of Canis Lupus