Mexican wolf
| Mexican wolf | ||||||||||||
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Mexican wolf ( Canis lupus baileyi ) |
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| Canis lupus baileyi | ||||||||||||
| Nelson & Goldman , 1929 |
The Mexican wolf ( Canis lupus baileyi ), called El lobo in Mexico , is the smallest of the five American subspecies of the wolf ( Canis lupus ) and thus belongs to the canine family (Canidae).
features
The color of the fur is a combination of brown, gray, rust and ocher. The tips of the tail, feet and ears are mostly black. The head is stocky, the muzzle short and thick. He has long legs and a slim body.
It weighs around 23–41 kg and is around 170 cm long including the tail. His height is approx. 65–80 cm. The females are smaller than the males. In captivity, he reaches an approximate age of 15 years.
Occurrence
The Mexican wolf can only be found in the west of Mexico, in the Sierra Madre Occidental and the surrounding area, and again in southeastern Arizona and western New Mexico (through resettlement) since the turn of the century . Until the beginning of the 20th century, the distribution area extended from southeast Arizona over west Texas , south from New Mexico to Mexico.
The habitat of the Mexican wolf includes steppes, grasslands and higher-lying forests. Dry deserts are not part of the habitat, they are only crossed occasionally when hunting.
behavior
The Mexican wolf lives in packs of three to eight animals. The pack consists of the old wolves and their last offspring. There is a complex social hierarchy in the pack. The adult wolves, males and females, are the leading ones, the alpha animals. They are responsible for staking out the territory, keeping peace in the pack and initiating migrations of the pack. Also, only the alpha pair is responsible for reproduction. A couple usually stays together for their entire life. Under the alpha pair, the other wolves in the pack are usually in two parallel hierarchical lines. Two packs rarely meet because their territories are marked out by howling and scent markings.
Mexican wolves are excellent at hearing, seeing, and smelling. They use these senses to hunt and communicate with their fellow species. Communication takes place via howling, barking, whining, yowling and growling. Body language, such as facial expression, posture and certain movement sequences, is also used. As a threatening gesture , they raise the hair on the back of their necks and growl. Every wolf howls differently, so they can recognize each other without seeing each other. They howl to find each other and to mark their territory. The area is mainly marked out by scent markings on trees, stones or bushes. Should a wolf from a neighboring pack be seen, an attempt is made to drive it away by growling and threatening gestures.
With their long, strong legs, the Mexican wolf can cover long distances. On the hunt, he runs hundreds of kilometers in a few days. In the hunt , the whole pack runs after its prey persistently until they are exhausted, in the group they can also kill larger prey. In inhabited areas they only hunt at night, otherwise also by day.
nutrition
The Mexican wolf mostly feeds on deer . Pronghorns , rodents , umbilical pigs and occasionally livestock complete his menu.
Reproduction
Mexican wolves reproduce once a year. The female is mated between mid-February and mid-March. After a gestation period of about 63 days, in April or May, the female gives birth to an average of four to seven pups. While she is suckling and raising the litter for six to eight weeks, the male provides them with food and the other wolves in the pack help with the rearing. After three months, the offspring learn to hunt by following the old wolves. The young stay with the old wolves for one to two years.
Hazard and protection
The only natural enemy of the Mexican wolf is humans. The human hunt for elk and red deer forced the wolves to hunt human livestock so as not to starve. This led to the widespread extermination of the Mexican wolf. They were shot and poisoned by private individuals and, from 1914 in the USA, by forest authorities as part of the Animal Damage Control . No Mexican wolf has been detected in the United States since the early years of the 20th century .
According to a partnership agreement between the United States and Mexico, five Mexican wolves were captured in the Mexican states of Durango and Chihuahua between 1977 and 1980 . These wolves were further bred in captivity. Today that population is from the American Zoo and Aquarium Association in 40 zoos and nature reserves monitors in the United States and Mexico. In 1995, two additional breeding lines, in captivity since the 1960s, were integrated into the breeding project after DNA tests confirmed that they were pure Mexican wolves. Around 200 Mexican wolves live in captivity today.
In March 1998, 34 Mexican wolves were introduced to southeastern Arizona. It was hoped that this subspecies, which has been classified as "extinct in the wild" on the Red List since 1996, will continue to exist because, among other things, it also plays an important role in the ecosystem . Mexican wolves mainly hunted sick, injured, old and young game, this kept the prey populations healthy and prevented overpopulation. In the first year of exposure, five wolves were shot, one run over, one disappeared unknown and five others found their way back to their rearing stations. In 2002, more wolves were released to southeastern Arizona and the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest . Since they have reproduced, they continued to spread into the adjacent Gila National Forest in western New Mexico. The aim of the reintroduction should be a game population of at least 100 Mexican wolves in 2008.
See also
literature
- Norma Ames: Mexican wolf recovery plan. Portland 1982, OCLC 427479152 .
- Rick Bass: The new wolves. Lyons, New York 1998, ISBN 1-55821-697-9 .
- David E. Brown, Dan Miles Gish: The Wolf in the Southwest. Tucson 1983, ISBN 0-8165-0782-1 , ISBN 0-8165-0796-1 .
- James C. Burbank: Vanishing lobo. Johnson, Boulder 1990, ISBN 1-55566-071-1 .
- Edana Eckart: Gray wolf. Children's, New York 2003, ISBN 0-516-24303-9 , ISBN 0-516-27891-6 .
- Jonathan Hanson et al .: Desert dogs. coyotes, foxes & wolves Tucson 1996, ISBN 1-886679-05-3 .
- Bobbie Holaday: Return of the Mexican gray wolf. Tucson 2003, ISBN 0-8165-2295-2 , ISBN 0-8165-2296-0 .
- Tom Lynch: El lobo. Salt Lake City 2005, ISBN 0-87480-835-9 .
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins, Baltimore 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
