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Terrestrial Wild Animals
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Carnivorous and Omnivores Animals, Excluding Felids
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Canids (Canidae) & Hyaenids (Hyaenidae)
Wolf (Canis lupus)
Wolf (Canis lupus)
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Wolf (Canis lupus)
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A True Warrior with an extremely hard and rough life, 870F passed away 6 years ago on this day, March 16 2015, of malnutrition.
She was nearing 4 years of age [3 years & 11 months] She might have a lived an average life in term of lifespan, but what a life ! – Dominating Other Packs as pup/yearling with the Mollie’s – Joining the Junctions – Becoming The Alpha Female – Being Injured While Breeding with “Puff” in 2013 – Surviving on her own for 2 months – Rejoining the pack – Re-establishing herself as the alpha female – Breeding with 890M in 2014 and giving birth to a litter of 5 – Being Again injured, this time by an attack of the Prospect Peak Wolf Pack – The Return of The Sister – The Sister [970F] dominating and displacing/forcing her out of the pack – Persisting for a while on her own but finally dying as true warrior and brave wolf. That was a insight of her life : Wolf 870F [April 2011 – March 16 2015] 
"During the Quaternary Megafaunal Extinction (~11.7 ka), North America saw widespread, landscape-scale ecological changes that ultimately contributed to the loss of many species, including horses (Guthrie, 2006) and mammoths (Fisher, 1996; Koch and Barnosky, 2006). We show that extinction of much of the mammal megafauna during the Pleistocene to Holocene transition induced a dietary change among wolves. Recent Yukon wolves rely primarily on the extant large ungulates, caribou and moose (Gauthier and Theberge, 1986; Hayes et al., 2016; Merkle et al., 2017), while Pleistocene wolves primarily consumed horses. Wolves, however, did not change their carcass utilization behaviours, consuming primarily flesh and little bone. Though wolves exhibit some degree of ecological flexibility, they have remained large ungulate specialists. Future studies should include modern (early 2000s to present) wolf specimens from the Yukon to observe whether wolf diets have continued to change throughout time. It will be crucial to conserve populations of caribou and moose as well as the ecosystems with which they are associated, particularly as climate continues to alter the Canadian Arctic at rates far exceeding the global average (Glig et al., 2012; Rowland et al., 2016)."
Dietary reconstruction and evidence of prey shifting in Pleistocene and recent gray wolves (Canis lupus) from Yukon Territory 
I wonder if anyone has mentioned the Kenai Peninsula Wolf here?
I find this subspecies of wolves extremely interesting, sadly it is extinct due to humans. This might have been the largest subspecies of Canis lupus to ever exist truly. Compare its skull to a general grey wolf skull *This image is copyright of its original author This site describes it as a very large carnivore who had an alleged shoulder height of 90–115 cm (seems exaggerated, a wolf as tall as a tiger?) and a weight between 67–90 kg. https://wolf-stuff.com/blogs/wolf-facts/...nsula-wolf This would make the wolf was big as cougars and leopards on average/max weight *This image is copyright of its original author
(06-06-2021, 01:22 AM)LoveAnimals Wrote: I wonder if anyone has mentioned the Kenai Peninsula Wolf here? WHAT ? Wolves occurs currently in the Kenai Peninsula for your information. Did you happen to read Wolves of the Kenai Peninsula (1984) by Rolf. O. Peterson, James D. Woolington and Theodore N. Bailey ? I compiled over 100 weights from individuals wolves of that location from 1976 to 1995. The average adult male is [from what i compiled] barely under 100 lbs (99,04 lbs or 44,94 kg) [n = 41] while the average adult female is [from what i compiled] just above 77 lbs (77,17 lbs or 35,01 kg) [n = 50]. The Heaviest Weight of adult males and females i compiled of this location, which is Unit 7 & 15 of Alaska is : 98 lbs (44,5 kg) for the female 121 lbs (54,9 kg) for the male ----- About the subspecies, i do not know much about Alces. Mech did suggests to simplify and take into consideration that there is only 5 main types of wolves in North America : - Arctic Wolf - Alexander Archipelago - Northwestern Wolf - Mexican Wolf - Eastern Wolf (Now debated, debated on if it should be a species of it's own or remain a sub-species) --------- Edit : The Skull on Wikipedia Appears Large but the wolf wouldn't be much bigger than any of the biggest wolves types. In the late 1800's and early 1900's claims of very very large wolves and other animals were thrown there and there. If anything, that skull is the skull of very large wolf specimen of the subspecie which is likely an wolf that would be in the range of 55 - 70 kg. Which is the size of larger wolves of populations of Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia or Yellowstone. Wolves in the Kanuti Wildlife Refuge (Unit 24B) in Alaska had an average for five males (yearling or older, but likely all adults males) [Adults were considered as >12 months for that study of Wilk (1990), so i can't know for sure]. But yeah, the average of these 5 males was 117.2 lbs or 53,14 kg. They fed on Moose for a living. Although not impossible to have a greater size , the Kenai Peninsula Wolf as the "Subspecies" is known as [for me and many, it would be included in the alaskan subspecie] was and is very unlikely to be much, if any, bigger than other populations of wolves. Here is Wilk (1990) publication : CAPTURE OF GRAY WOLVES IN THE KANUTI REFUGE : INITIATION OF FIVE-YEAR STUDY (06-06-2021, 03:36 AM)TheNormalGuy Wrote: WHAT ?I am totally aware that the grey wolf still roams in the Kenai Peninsula, I was just referring to the subspecies of Canis Lupus alces (06-06-2021, 03:36 AM)TheNormalGuy Wrote: I compiled over 100 weights from individuals wolves of that location from 1976 to 1995.You truly did a really wonderful work by calculating the average of these wolves, it's interesting to see how most wolves (males) from all subspecies seem always to average between 40-45 kg (06-06-2021, 03:36 AM)TheNormalGuy Wrote: Edit : The Skull on Wikipedia Appears Large but the wolf wouldn't be much bigger than any of the biggest wolves types. In the late 1800's and early 1900's claims of very very large wolves and other animals were thrown there and there.So the extinct subspecies was "nothing special" about size? I suspected that the claim of it being 90-115 cm tall at the shoulder was grossly exaggerated, as much as the extinct Bernard wolf who was claimed to be even 4 feet tall (120 cm) Thanks for the information (06-06-2021, 09:52 AM)LoveAnimals Wrote: You truly did a really wonderful work by calculating the average of these wolves, it's interesting to see how most wolves (males) from all subspecies seem always to average between 40-45 kg Hi, thanks for the feedback. For your information, the size of males of all subspecies of wolves [as well as females] depends on a lot of things. Prey Size and Prey Abundance are some elements. The 1st likely being more important than the latter. Wolves preying primarily on white-tail deer in Minnesota, Ontario and Québec average below 35 kg for males even below 30 kg in some places and below 30 kg for females. I am preparing my thesis currently that will regard the relationship between the size of wolves and the size of their primary preys. Except Saskatchewan, I got weights from all the states and provinces of North America where wolves exist. That is over 2600 individual weights (including more than 1300 that are of adult wolves). The hypothesis and goal will be significative as wolves that prey on bigger animals primarily are truely bigger. -------- And yes, people like to enhance extinct animals size.  (04-24-2014, 03:53 AM)Paquets Wrote: Le plus petit tour de tête appartient au loup le plus lourd.J'adore les loups, j'ai trouvé un site intéressant en terme de blogs sur les loups. Je mets le lien ici les blogs sont très intéressants. Mod Edit: please try to write an english translation too, for the rest of the forum.
Spatial and temporal variability in summer diet of gray wolves (Canis lupus) in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Abstract The role of predation by large carnivores in suppressing prey populations and structuring ecosystems is highly debated, calling for a detailed understanding of carnivore diets. Wolves (Canis lupus) roam across three continents and persist throughout widely different ecosystems. Their diet is flexible and may vary spatially as well as seasonally, which requires analysis of diet on different spatial and temporal scales. Few studies have investigated the summer diet of wolves, which is more variable, consists of smaller prey, and requires different methods than studying their winter diet. To better understand the summer diet of wolves, we combined three independently collected wolf scat data sets from three distinctly different portions of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Yellowstone National Park (2009), Grand Teton National Park (2003 – 2009), and the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness (2009 – 2010). These areas represent different ecological conditions and management regimes, which may impact wolf diet. We estimated relative biomass and compared occurrence of different prey species among packs, years, as well as the three regions. In total, we analyzed 1,906 wolf scats and found that neonate cervids, adult elk, and adult deer were the most important prey species in the summer diet of the wolves. We found dietary variation among packs residing in the same area, as well as across years. The occurrence of neonate cervids displayed the most variation, and low occurrence of this prey type often was associated with a more diverse diet. Wolf packs within the national parks had a higher occurrence of medium-sized prey (~ 50 – 70 kg) and lower occurrence of small-sized prey (≤ 20 kg) compared to wolves in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. These results demonstrate flexibility in summer diet across packs, years, and between regions within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
The effect of group size on reproduction in cooperatively
breeding gray wolves depends on density Abstract In cooperatively breeding species, large group size is often positively related to reproductive success and group persistence. We have a poor understanding, how- ever, of how group sizes within a population affect reproduction particularly as density varies. We hypothesized that at low densities, wolves in both small and large groups would have similar reproductive rates. At high densities, however, wolves in small groups would have lower reproductive rates compared to those in large groups. Using empirical data from radio-collared wolves in Idaho and Yel- lowstone National Park, WY, USA (1996–2012), we compared reproductive rates (i.e. proportion reproducing, litter size, pup survival) among small and large groups of wolves as density uctuated within the populations. Reproductive rates were generally lower for individuals in small groups compared to those in large groups, particularly as density increased. Pup survival, however, was slightly higher for wolves in small groups compared to large groups except at very high densities. Polygamy increased with density regardless of group size, suggesting a polygamy threshold for wolves. Large group size resulted in less parturition failure, more breeding females per group, larger litter sizes, and ultimately more pups recruited per group. Large group size appears advantageous for several, but not all, aspects of reproduction particularly when population density is high.
Wolves make roadways safer, generating large economic returns to predator conservation
Abstract Recent studies uncover cascading ecological effects resulting from removing and reintroducing predators into a landscape, but little is known about effects on human lives and property. We quantify the effects of restoring wolf populations by evaluating their influence on deer–vehicle collisions (DVCs) in Wisconsin. We show that, for the average county, wolf entry reduced DVCs by 24%, yielding an economic benefit that is 63 times greater than the costs of verified wolf predation on livestock. Most of the reduction is due to a behavioral response of deer to wolves rather than through a deer population decline from wolf predation. This finding supports ecological research emphasizing the role of predators in creating a “landscape of fear.” It suggests wolves control economic damages from overabundant deer in ways that human deer hunters cannot.
Ancient divergence of Indian and Tibetan wolves revealed by recombination-aware phylogenomics
Abstract The grey wolf (Canis lupus) expanded its range across Holarctic regions during the late Pleistocene. Consequently, most grey wolves share recent (<100,000 years ago) maternal origins corresponding to a widespread Holarctic clade. However, two deeply divergent (200,000–700,000 years ago) mitochondrial clades are restricted, respectively, to the Indian subcontinent and the Tibetan Plateau, where remaining wolves are endangered. No genome-wide analysis had previously included wolves corresponding to the mitochondrial Indian clade or attempted to parse gene flow and phylogeny. We sequenced four Indian and two Tibetan wolves and included 31 additional canid genomes to resolve the phylogenomic history of grey wolves. Genomic analyses revealed Indian and Tibetan wolves to be distinct from each other and from broadly distributed wolf populations corresponding to the mitochondrial Holarctic clade. Despite gene flow, which was reflected disproportionately in high-recombination regions of the genome, analyses revealed Indian and Tibetan wolves to be basal to Holarctic grey wolves, in agreement with the mitochondrial phylogeny. In contrast to mitochondrial DNA, however, genomic findings suggest the possibility that the Indian wolf could be basal to the Tibetan wolf, a discordance potentially reflecting selection on the mitochondrial genome. Together, these findings imply that southern regions of Asia have been important centers for grey wolf evolution and that Indian and Tibetan wolves represent evolutionary significant units (ESUs). Further study is needed to assess whether these ESUs warrant recognition as distinct species. This question is especially urgent regarding the Indian wolf, which represents one of the world's most endangered wolf populations.  *This image is copyright of its original author Although currently considered the same subspecies (Canis lupus pallipes), West Asian wolves and wolves of the Indian subcontinent are distinct, with West Asian wolves falling into the Holarctic lineage.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Amazing image from Lagodekhi NP - Wolf chasing E Caucasian Tur © Nika Kerdikoshvili #Georgia
 *This image is copyright of its original author source: https://twitter.com/NarynTRosen/status/1...6040283137  |
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