IFAW, Lawmakers Push Bill Protecting Big Cats
Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online One of the many idiosyncrasies of humanity is our desire to domesticate otherwise wild animals and keep them around as pets. This has generally worked out well for us in regards to small...
Latest Gray Wolf Stories
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online During the Pleistocene epoch, an astounding diversity of large-bodied mammals inhabited the so-called “mammoth steppe” – a cold and dry, yet productive, environment that extended from western Europe through northern Asia and across the Bering land bridge to the Yukon territory. Three types of large predators roamed the steppe during the Pleistocene, wolves, bears and large cats. After the end of the last ice age, only wolves and...
Michigan Technological University Bear hunters will tell you that a good way to attract a bear is to put out bait. And in 10 states, including Michigan and Wisconsin, that's perfectly legal. Hunting dogs are another useful technique in the bear-hunter's toolkit, and 17 states say that's just fine. But who else likes bear bait? Gray wolves, that's who. And wolves that are feeling territorial about a bear bait stash can—and sometimes do—kill hunting dogs released at the bait site....
Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online A new Brigham Young University (BYU) study has delved into the longstanding debate of “Nature versus Nurture,” proving that dominant male deer are often the result of a mother’s extra special care. According to the study, led by BYU student Eric Freeman, and published in the latest issue of PLoS ONE, a mother deer knows when her male offspring will be a great leader of deer, even as the male is still in the womb. This extra...
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A recent genetic analysis has shown that a 33,000-year-old canine skull found in Siberia is more closely related to today’s domestic dogs than the wolves of its time, according to a report in the online journal PLOS ONE. The finding could have major implications for understanding how modern day labradoodles and peekapoos were bred from wild dogs over thousands of years. The skull was first found in 1975 by a team of Russian...
State Wildlife Officials Agree to Precautionary Measures Requested by Conservation Groups to Protect Wolves During Hunt & to Consider Changes to Rules Allowing Unlimited Killing of Coyotes SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- State wildlife officials in California declined to call off a coyote-hunting contest in Modoc County this weekend but, in response to public outcry, agreed to take steps to clarify the scope of the hunt and protect OR-7, the first wild...
Hunt Risks Killing Endangered Wolves, Breaking New Wildlife Law SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A coalition of more than 20 wildlife conservation organizations, representing more than a million Californians, are calling on the California Department of Wildlife and California Fish and Game Commission to stop a planned coyote-hunting contest scheduled for early February in Modoc County. The groups, which include Project Coyote, the Animal Welfare Institute and...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Your family dog is likely to dig through the kitchen trashcan for food if you give him half a chance. It's annoying to live with, but new information shows that this behavior runs deeper than we might know. A new study of dog genetics, led by Uppsala University, reveals that compared to wolves, dogs have numerous genes involved in metabolizing starch. This supports the theory that some dogs emerged from wolves that were able to...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Dogs and wolves are genetically very similar, which has made it difficult for scientists to understand why dogs are happy to become "man's best friend" while wolves remain fiercely wild. Kathryn Lord, doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, suggests the different behaviors are related to the animals' earliest sensory experiences and the critical period of socialization. Previous to this study, little was known...
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online New research from a group of British scientists has provided a more detailed look into the selective diet of wolves living in northwestern Italy. Wolves are an apex predator across Europe and the new insights could translate into more informed conservation strategies for policymakers as well as better protective measures for the region’s livestock industry, which can be affected by wolf predation. According to the researchers’...
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) researchers announced that they have discovered fossil remains from a dire wolf, revealing the first confirmation that the extinct predator once stalked the Silver State. UNLV geologist Josh Bonde found the wolf’s metapodial (foot bone) last year while surveying the Upper Las Vegas Wash, located just northwest of Las Vegas. They were later able to confirm that the bone is between 10,000 and...
Latest Gray Wolf Reference Libraries
The Caspian seal (Pusa caspica) is one of the smallest species in the true seal family that is native only to the Caspian Sea. It can be seen on shorelines, rocky islands, and ice blocks that occur throughout the sea. In warmer months, these seals will inhabit northern areas of this range, but in colder months, they inhabit cooler waters and the mouths of the Ural and Volga rivers. It is thought that these seals only occur in the Caspian Sea because they moved there during the Quaternary...
The muskox (Ovibos moschatus), also known as the musk ox, is native to the Arctic areas of Canada, United Sates, and Greenland. Populations have been introduced into Norway, Sweden, and Siberia, but these are small. There was a population in Antarctica, but it was wiped out due to hunting and climate change, which caused its habitat to decline. Despite this, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service introduced a new population onto Nunivak Island in Antarctica, as a means of supported...
The Czechoslovakian Wolfdog originated as an experiment in 1955 in the former Czech Republic. The breed was created by breeding a German Shepherd with a Carpathian Wolf, in attempts to create a "wolfdog" which blended the qualities of a dog and a wolf. The breed looks the part. The build of the Czechoslovakian Wolfdog, as well as its hair are wolf-like. The color of its coat is gray, with either a yellow or silver tint and a light mask. Its hair is straight and thick. The breed stands over...
The Southern-East Asian Wolf (Canis lupus pallipes), also known as the Turkish or Iranian Wolf, is a subspecies of Gray Wolf which ranges from Northern Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Iran. Israel seems to be the last hope for the Southern-East Asian Wolf's survival in the Middle East because it is the only country in the region where they have legal protection. There are between 150-250 wolves all over northern and central Israel. The biggest dangers to the wolves in...
The Mexican Gray Wolf (Canis lupus baileyi), is the rarest, most genetically distinct subspecies of the Gray Wolf in North America. Until recent times, the Mexican Gray Wolf ranged the Sonora and Chihuahua Deserts from central Mexico to western Texas, southern New Mexico, and central Arizona. By the turn of the 20th century, reduction of natural prey like deer and elk caused many wolves to begin attacking domestic livestock, which led to intensive efforts by government agencies and...
