Wolf Canis lupus (Linné, 1758)
English: Gray Wolf; French: Loup; Albanian: Vjuk; Algonquin: Mahigan; Apache: ba'cho, ba'uchaahi, ma'cho; Czech: vlk; Chinese: Lang; Bulgarian: Walk; Chipewyan: nuniye; Cree: Mahigan; Croatian: vuk; Dogrip: nodi; Estonian: Hunt; Finnish: Susi; Greek: Lyk os; Greenland-Inuit: Amarog; Hungarian: Farkas; Inuit: Amarug; Iranian: Gorg; Italian: Lupo; Korean: Neuk Dae; Lettish: Vilks; Lithuanian: Vilkas; Mongolian: Tchono; Montenigrin: volk; Navajo: ma'iitsoh; Marathi; landga; Kanarese: thola, vraka; Central India: nekra, bighana, hurar; Hindi: hundar bheriya; Nepali: Bvaso; Norwegian: Ulven; Pashtu: Scheermach, Leeva; Polish: Wilk; Portuguese: Lobo; Romanian: Lup; Russian: Wolk; Serb: vuk; Slovakian: vlk (obyca iny); Slovenian: volk; South Slavey: digah; Swe dish: Varg; Spanish: Lobo; Tamil: onai; Telegu: toralu; Tibetan: Changi; Turkish: Kurt; Urdu: Bheria.
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Former distribution: Throughout the northern hemisphere of the Palaearctic and Nearctic region; not in typical desert and high mountains.
Present distribution: Norway, Sweden, Finland, USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Mongolia, China, Korea (North and South), Israel, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, South Yemen, Muscat and Oman, Oman, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Pakistan. From Greenland to the north-western Territories of Canada to Alaska, south to the central parts of Mexico; in the USA only in northern Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin; in western Montana and the neighbouring areas of Idaho and Wyoming.
Behaviour: Preferred habitat: tundras, forests, and open plains far from human beings. They hunt big game, domestic and nomadic cattle, they prey mainly on large game as moose, deer, wild sheep and wild goats. Activity both diurnal and nocturnal.
Population status: Mostly exterminated in all highly populated industrial countries; in certain states as Spain, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, India, Italy, and in USA in Michigan and Wisconsin totally protected. In other countries partially protected by hunting regulations. But the wolf population must be considered as highly vulnerable until human attitude towards the wolves changes. Vulnerable, rare, endangered and stable. Estimated numbers acc. to CIC Symposium on predators, Lisbon, 1985: Portugal: 200, endangered; Spain: 800, vulnerable; Italy: 250, endangered; CSSR: 350, vulnerable; Poland: 880, rare; Bulgaria: 100, endangered; Greece: 3000? (1987); Norway: 3-5, endangered; Sweden: less than 10 (pers. comm. DAHL 1988); USSR: 100 000; Finland: 400; Mongolia: 13 000; China: no records; Alaska: stable; USA: rare; Canada: stable.
Brief notes:
Body weight: 30-90 kg
Head and body length: 100-160 cm
Tail length: 40-50 cm Shoulder heigth: 55-100 cm
Gestation period: 61-63 days
Maximum age: 16 years (20 years in captivity)
Trophy: Record SCI: 18 3/8 score, 1982 Alaska, DWIGHT R. LOCKERBY; average 14 score. RW's: 18 3/8", 1978 USSR n.n.; average: 15". CIC: 46,80 points, 1978 USSR, n.n.; average: 37 points.
Hunting methods: On a kill, driven circle hunt; calling; with dogs, on horseback; with eagles.
Subspecies: 6 Holarctic region, 1 Indo-Malayan region
1. Common Wolf Canis l. lupus Eastern Europe east to central USSR; northern Europe, southern Europe. Endangered and rare.
2. Steppe Wolf Canis l. campestris The steppes and deserts of southern USSR, Romania, central Asia. Stable.
3. Tundra Wolf Canis l. albus Palaearctic: Tundra and Taiga of northern Europe and the European and Asiatic regions of USSR. Stable. Trophy: No records.
4. Tundra Wolf Canis l. tundarum Nearctic: Tundra and Taiga of North America, Alaska, Canada; Greenland. Stable, endangered in Greenland. Trophy: No records.
5. Eastern Timber Wolf Canis l. lycaon Forest regions of northern USA and central Canada. Endangered. Trophy: No records.
6. Great Plains Wolf Canis l. nubilis Prairie regions of the Middle West of USA. Extinct. Trophy: No records.
Indo-Malayan region
7. Indian Wolf Canis l. pallipes (Sykes, 1831)(German: Indischer Wolf; French: Loup des Indes) Western India; Punjab and Sind. Endangered.
Remarks: They are highly endangered in all regions with dense human populations; total protection of wolves is granted in Norway, Sweden, Italy, India and in parts of Yugoslavia, in certain provinces in Canada, USA and Spain.
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