Gray Wolf

The gray, or timber, wolf (Canis lupus) is the largest wild member of the dog family. The gray wolf has a larger natural distribution than any other mammal except human beings. It once lived in all of North America from Alaska and Arctic Canada south to central Mexico and was found throughout Europe and Asia southward to the Mediterranean Sea, the Arabian Peninsula, and parts of India and China. It lived in every type of habitat in the Northern Hemisphere except tropical forests and arid deserts. In North America, the gray wolf is now found in Canada and Alaska, with smaller numbers in Minnesota and Mexico. Gray wolves were reintroduced to wilderness areas of the northern Rocky Mountains in 1995. What is it about the gray wolf that allows it to live in so many different environments?

credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service