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Description |
Geographic Range [top]
Range Description: Originally, the Grey Wolf was the worlds most widely distributed mammal, living throughout the northern hemisphere north of 15°N latitude in North America and 12°N in India. It has become extinct in much of Western Europe (Boitani 1995), in Mexico and much of the USA (Mech 1970). Their present distribution is more restricted: wolves occur primarily in wilderness and remote areas, especially in Canada, Alaska and northern USA, Europe, and Asia from about 75°N to 12°N.
Countries occurrence:
Native:
Afghanistan; Albania; Armenia (Armenia); Azerbaijan; Belarus; Bhutan; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Canada; China; Croatia; Czech Republic; Estonia; Finland; France; Georgia; Germany; Greece; Greenland; Hungary; India; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Iraq; Israel; Italy; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Korea, Democratic Peoples Republic of; Korea, Republic of; Kyrgyzstan; Latvia; Libya; Lithuania; Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of; Mexico; Moldova; Mongolia; Montenegro; Myanmar; Nepal; Norway; Oman; Pakistan; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Russian Federation; Saudi Arabia; Serbia (Serbia); Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Syrian Arab Republic; Tajikistan; Turkey; Turkmenistan; Ukraine; United Arab Emirates; United States (Georgia); Uzbekistan; Yemen
Possibly extinct:
Bangladesh
Regionally extinct:
Austria; Belgium; Denmark; Ireland; Japan; Luxembourg; Netherlands; Switzerland; United Kingdom
Upper elevation limit (metres): 2400
Range Map: Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.
Population [top]
Population: Because of the diversity in climate, topography, vegetation, human settlement and development of wolf range, wolf populations in various parts of the original range vary from extinct to relatively pristine. Wolf densities vary from about one/12 km² to one/120 km².
Sillero et al. (2004) provide details, for each range country, on subspecies present, population status, approximate numbers, the percentage of former range occupied at present, main prey (where known), legal status, and cause of decline.
Current Population Trend: Stable
Additional data:
?Population severely fragmented: No
Habitat and Ecology [top]
Habitat and Ecology: Ranges in all northern habitats where there is suitable food (Mech 1970), densities being highest where prey biomass is highest (Fuller 1989). Food is extremely variable, but the majority comprises large ungulates (moose, caribou, deer, elk, wild boar, etc.). Wolves will also eat smaller prey items, livestock, carrion, and garbage.
Systems: Terrestrial
Threats [top]
Major Threat(s): Their original worldwide range has been reduced by about one-third, primarily in developed areas of Europe, Asia, Mexico, and the United States by poisoning and deliberate persecution due to depredation on livestock. Since about 1970, legal protection, land-use changes, and rural human population shifts to cities have arrested wolf population declines and fostered natural recolonization in parts of Western Europe and the United States, and reintroduction in the western United States. Continued threats include competition with humans for livestock, especially in developing countries, exaggerated concern by the public concerning the threat and danger of wolves, and fragmentation of habitat, with resulting areas becoming too small for populations with long-term viability. There is sustainable utilization of the species fur in Canada, Alaska, and the former Soviet Union and Mongolia.
Conservation Actions [top]
Conservation Actions: The species is included in CITES Appendix II, except populations from Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan, which are listed on Appendix I. There is extensive legal protection in many European countries; however, enforcement is variable and often non-existent.
The species now receives legal protection in Afghanistan, having been listed by the Afghan Government on the countrys 2009 Protected Species List. This prohibits all hunting and trade of C. lupus within Afghanistan.
It occurs in many protected areas across its range.
Occurrence in captivity:
The species lives and breeds well in captivity and is common in many zoological gardens.
Gaps in knowledge:
One of the most important questions still remaining about wolves involves the nature of their interaction with prey populations. The conditions under which wolves limit, regulate, or control their population is still open and important (Mech and Boitani 2003). Of more academic interest are questions involving wolf genetics, scent-marking behaviour, pseudo pregnancy and diseases (Mech 1995).
Citation: Mech, L.D. & Boitani, L. (IUCN SSC Wolf Specialist Group). 2010. Canis lupus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T3746A10049204. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T3746A10049204.en. Downloaded on 10 March 2016.
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