Mexican Gray Wolf
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Canis
Species: lupus
Sub-Species: baileyi
Physical Appearance: Mexican wolves are the smallest subspecies of North American gray wolves. They are also the most endangered. Commonly referred to as “El lobo,” the Mexican wolf is gray with light brown fur on its back. It has long legs and a sleek body to help it run fast. An adult Mexican wolf typically weighs 60 to 80 pounds, measures 26 to 32 inches tall from the shoulder and ranges from four-and-a-half to five-and-a-half feet long.
Habits and Reproduction: Mexican wolves are known to reach 15 years of age in captivity. Wolves are very social animals. They live in packs, which are complex social structures that include the breeding adult pair (the alpha male and female) and their offspring. A hierarchy of dominant and subordinate animals within the pack help it to work as a unit. Wolves mate between mid-February and mid-March. Gestation is roughly two months long, and wolf pups are born in April or May. Two to eight pups are born every year. The average litter is between four and seven pups.
Geographic Range: Once extirpated from the southwestern United States, 34 wolves returned to southeastern Arizona following a reintroduction program begun in March, 1998. During the first year of reintroduction, five were shot, one was hit by a vehicle, one disappeared and five others were returned to captivity. There are only about 200 Mexican wolves in captivity. Releases will continue through 2002. The goal of the reintroduction program is to restore at least 100 wolves to the wild by 2008. Once ranging from central Mexico to southwestern Texas, southern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona, today the Mexican wolf has been reintroduced to the Apache National Forest in southeastern Arizona and may move into the adjacent Gila National Forest in western New Mexico as the population expands.
Biome: temperate grassland
Habitat: Mexican wolves prefer to live in mountain forests, grasslands and shrub lands.
Diet: Mexican wolves prey on white-tailed deer, mule deer and elk but are also known to eat smaller mammals such as rabbits, ground squirrels and mice.
IUCN Status: Endangered.
Threats to Survival: Humans and habitat destruction are the only major threats to wolves.
PROTECTION:
Endangered Species Act, *CITES, Appendix I
*Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an international treaty with more than 144 member countries. Appendix I listed species cannot be traded commercially. Appendix II listed species can be traded commercially only if it does not harm their survival.
Mexican Gray Wolf
Mexican Wolf
Mexican Wolf: Federal Protection
TWIN: Mexican Wolf Updates
Return of the Mexican Wolf
Reintroducing Wolves into the American Southwest
Wolves in AZ & NM
An Article on The Mexican Wolf Situation
Sevilleta LTER Mexican Wolf
US Government Site On Mexican Wolf Recovery
1-800-352-0700
This toll-free number may be used to report Mexican wolf incidents involving public safety, livestock and domestic animal interactions, or a dead wolf. This number will help ensure a timely and consistent response to wolf-related incidents. For any other issues, such as requesting project information or
reporting a possible wolf sighting, please call the Mexican Wolf Project Hotline at 1-888-459-9653 or the Wolf Project Field Station at 1-928-339-4329. Project staff will handle these types of requests or reports within normal business hours.
