Grauer Wolf im Yellowstone Nationalpark

by Christiane Schulze

Copyright: Christiane Schulze
Der Wolf (Canis lupus) ist rezent das größte Raubtier aus der Familie der Hunde (Canidae). Wölfe leben meist in Familienverbänden, fachsprachlich Rudel genannt. Hauptbeute sind in den meisten Regionen mittelgroße bis große Huftiere. Die Art war seit dem späten Pleistozän in mehreren Unterarten in ganz Europa, weiten Teilen Asiens, einschließlich der Arabischen Halbinsel und Japan, und in Nordamerika verbreitet.

The eastern wolf also known as the timber wolf, Algonquin wolf or eastern timber wolf, is a type of wolf native to the Great Lakes region and southeastern Canada, considered to be either a unique subspecies of gray wolf or a separate species from the gray wolf. Many studies have found the eastern wolf to be the product of ancient and recent genetic admixture between the gray wolf and the coyote, while other studies have found some or all populations of the eastern wolf, as well as coyotes, originally separated from a common ancestor with the wolf over 1 million years ago and that these populations of the eastern wolf may be the same species as or a closely related species to the red wolf of the Southeastern United States. Regardless of its status, it is regarded as unique and therefore worthy of conservation] with Canada citing the population in eastern Canada (also known as the "Algonquin wolf") as being the eastern wolf population subject to protection
De Amerikaanse wolf of Timberwolf (Canis lupus lycaon) wordt beschouwd