Hobbies And Interests
Mountains
The Canadian government considers gray wolves, also called timber wolves, to be essential to the Rocky Mountain ecosystem and the surrounding areas. The government agency Parks Canada has shown that as wolf populations decline, elk populations rise, which leads to a loss of plant biomass. That results in fewer beaver dams and ultimately impacts mammals, amphibians, fish, insects, birds, and vegetation. A project is currently underway to reintroduce gray wolves from Canada into Yellowstone National Park and other areas of the northern United States where they were hunted to extinction.
Tundra
A subspecies of gray wolf, the tundra wolf, lives on the northern European and Asian tundra. Tundra wolves are very large, with average animals reaching 100 to 125 pounds and some growing as large as 220 pounds. They are most common in the Russian arctic and boreal region. Tundra wolves prey primarily on large animals such as bison, musk ox, mountain sheep, wapiti, deer and moose, although they will settle for smaller prey if it is what is available. Because tundra wolves have little competition from humans, they exist in large numbers and are not considered endangered at this point.
Desert
Desert gray wolves, including the Mexican gray wolf and the Egyptian jackal, demonstrate the adaptability of the animals. In the desert, partially because of the lack of large prey animals, the wolves are smaller, travel in smaller packs and have a larger range. When farming and ranching were introduced to northern Mexico and the southwestern United States, the wolves welcomed the livestock as a new source of prey and, as a result, were hunted to extinction in many areas. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service launched a program in 1997 to reintroduce Mexican wolves to protected areas of New Mexico and Arizona.
Great Plains Wolf
The Great Plains wolf, another subspecies of gray wolf, was once the most common in the United States. As of 2005, there were about 3,700 great plains wolves in the continental U.S. with the largest population in Minnesota, according to the International Wolf Center. They are also still common in southern areas of Canada around the Great Lakes. Great plains wolves range from 60 to 110 pounds and are four and a half to six and a half feet long. Typically plains wolves hunt rabbits, moose, beaver, deer and a variety of small birds and mammals. Because of their threat to livestock and the competition to hunters for game, the wolves were hunted to extinction in many areas.