Endangered: The Mexican Grey Wolf
by Erika Hanson
The word ‘wolf’ brings up images of a massive grey and white canid, prowling the forests and tundra of such states as Michigan, Wyoming, and Alaska, just to name a few. This subspecies of wolf is well-known. It’s the one heard about in fairytales, seen on documentaries and in books. But the grey wolf is only one of many subspecies of wolves which roam the United States.
One such subspecies is the Mexican grey wolf, typically seen in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Known as ‘el lobo’, this wolf can be found primarily in the states of New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas, as well as in parts of Mexico. The Mexican grey wolf is smaller than its cousins to the north, standing at only 25-32 inches tall. Its coat is a mixture of grey, buff, rust and black, and they can have very distinctive markings. They have long legs and can run up to 40 miles (65KM) an hour.
As previously mentioned, these wolves reside in the mountainous regions of the southwestern United States, as well as Mexico. They live and hunt in a pack, with a complex social structure consisting of a mated pair of alpha wolves and their offspring. In captivity, Mexican grey wolves can live up to fifteen years. It is estimated that they live roughly ten years in the wild.
Biodiversity continues to be an issue, as today’s population is descended from only five wolves: four males and one pregnant female. In the years between 1977 and 1980, these wolves were bred as the basis for a new generation. Although this saved the species from extinction, it provided conservationists with a limited gene pool.
Currently, there are 196 Mexican grey wolves in the wild. It is estimated that over a thousand Mexican wolves roamed the southwest during the 1900’s, but the population has since been decimated by human predation. Due to increasingly low numbers of elk, mule deer, and other prey in the wild, wolves have been forced to find food elsewhere, typically on cattle ranches. From the early twentieth century until 1976 (when the Mexican wolf was declared to be an endangered species), they were shot or poisoned either by private individuals protecting their cattle or by government agents, in accordance with legislation current at the time.
In the 1970’s, the Mexican grey wolf was considered extinct in the wild, and a binational conservation effort began. By breeding the wolves in captivity, zoologists were able to release a small population of Mexican grey wolves back into their natural habitat. This population continues to grow, but slowly. Conservation efforts continue, with new legislation being introduced as recently as 2022. With the right resources and patience, the number of Mexican grey wolves will continue to grow.
