Mexican Gray Wolves
The Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) or “lobo” is the most genetically distinct lineage of gray wolves in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the most endangered mammals in North America. By the mid-1980s, hunting, trapping, and poisoning caused the extinction of lobos in the wild, with only a handful remaining in captivity. In 1998 the wolves were reintroduced into the wild as part of a federal reintroduction program under the Endangered Species Act. Today in the U.S., there is a single wild population comprising only 131 individuals - an increase from the 114 counted at the end of 2017.
Red Wolves
The red wolf (Canis rufus) is one of the world’s most endangered wild canids. Once common throughout the southeastern United States, red wolf populations were decimated by the 1960s due to intensive predator control programs and loss of habitat. A remnant population of red wolves was found along the Gulf coast of Texas and Louisiana. After being declared an endangered species in 1973, efforts were initiated to locate and capture as many wild red wolves as possible. Of the 17 remaining wolves captured by biologists, 14 became the founders of a successful captive breeding program.
The current estimate puts the only wild population of red wolves at their lowest level since the late 1990s. Only 11 red wolves are known to remain in the wild.
Eastern Wolves
According to recent genomic research, eastern wolves, previously considered a subspecies of gray wolf, Canis lupus lycaon, actually represent a separate species (Canis lycaon). Algonquin wolves, also referred to as Eastern wolves, are classified as a “threatened” species. The wolves are found only in a handful of places, including Algonquin Park in Ontario & Mont-Tremblant Park, Quebec in Canada. The Eastern wolf has disappeared from almost all of southern Ontario, largely as a result of loss of habitat through forest clearance and farmland development. Hybridization could also be a potential long-term threat to the genetic integrity of Eastern Wolf populations.
Less than 800 Eastern wolves remain in the wild; most Eastern wolves live in central Ontario and western Quebec, and with the highest population densities found in Algonquin Provincial Park.
Eastern Coyotes
There is a wild hybrid canid living in the eastern United States, and it is the result of evolution occurring right under our noses!
Over the years these dynamic canids have acquired a number of nicknames. Both "Coywolf" and “Coydog” have been growing in popularity; however, the majority of the scientific community prefer the less flashy moniker: “Eastern Coyote.” It's no surprise that "wolf" and "dog" have been woven into the identity of wild canids in the region, as current science indicates a number of species are represented within the genome of the eastern coyote. Ecologist and evolutionary biologist Javier Monzón, previously at Stony Brook University in New York, now at Pepperdine University in California, analyzed the DNA of 437 eastern coyotes and found the genes contain all three canids -- dog, wolf and coyote. According to Monzón's research, about 64% of the eastern coyote's genome is coyote (Canis latrans), 13% gray wolf (Canis lupus), 13% Eastern wolf (Canis lycaon), and 10% dog (Canis familiaris).
Articles to Discover:
• Population Genomic Analysis of North American Eastern Wolves (Canis lycaon) Supports Their Conservation Priority Status Heppenheimer et al, 2018
• Failing to Protect a Threatened Species: Ontario Allows Hunting and Trapping of the Algonquin Wolf (Ontario Environmental Protection Report 2017, Ontario Environmental Commissioner Dianne Saxe) 2017
• Ungulate predation and ecological roles of wolves and coyotes in eastern North America (Benson et al, Ecological Applications) 2017
• Whole-genome sequence analysis shows that two endemic species of North American wolf are admixtures of the coyote and gray wolf (vonHoldt et al, Science Advances) 2016
• Rare Wolf or Common Coyote? It Shouldn't Matter, But It Does. (Smithsonian Magazine) 2016
• Ontario Species at Risk Evaluation Report for Algonquin Wolf (Canis sp.), an evolutionarily significant and distinct hybrid with Canis lycaon, C. latrans, and C. lupus ancestry, (Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario (COSSARO)), 2016
• COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report on the Eastern Wolf Canis sp. cf. lycaon in Canada, (COSEWIC - Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada), 2015
• Recent Occurences if Wild-origin Wolves (Canis spp.) in Canada South of the St. Lawrence River Revealed by Stable Isotope and Genetic Analysis, (Donald F. McAlpine, et al.), 2015
• RAD sequencing and genomic simulations resolve hybrid origins within North American Canis, (Rutledge et al.), 2015
• Wolf? Coyote? Coywolf? Understanding WolfHybrids Just Got a Bit Easier, (The Nature Conservancy), 2015
• Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) Dyad Monthly Association Rates by Demographic Group, (Meyer and Mech), 2015
• Hybridization Dynamics between Wolves and Coyotes in Central Ontario, (Benson, Wheeldon & Patterson), 2013 (PowerPoint Presentation)
• Use of cranial characters in taxonomy of the Minnesota wolf (Canis sp.), (Mech, Nowak, Weisberg), 2011
• Wolf family values - The exquisitely balanced social life of the wolf has implications far beyond the pack, (New Scientist), 2010
• Non-genetic Data Supporting Genetic Evidence for the Eastern Wolf, (Mech), 2011
• Genetic and morphometric analysis of sixteenth-century Canis skull fragments: implications for historic eastern and gray wolf distribution in North America, (Rutledge et al.), 2009
• Genetic characterization of Canis populations in the western Great Lakes region, (Wheeldon), 2009
• Genetic Characterization of Hybrid Wolves across Ontario, (Wilson et al), 2009
• DNA profiles of the eastern Canadian wolf and the red wolf provide evidence for a common evolutionary history independent of the gray wolf, (Wilson et al.), 2000
