Latest Gray Wolf Stories
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Conservationists typically rely on direct observation, whether from the air or the ground, to understand how different species use the land in their habitat, but a new method from a University of Cincinnati professor could give them another way to gain insight into species land use. According to the November cover article for the Ecological Society of America's journal Ecology, Josh Miller assessed elk habitats use in Yellowstone...
CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Nov. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A North Carolina court halted a temporary state rule that allowed spotlight hunting of coyotes at night in the five-county area of eastern North Carolina inhabited by the world's only wild population of red wolves (Canis rufus) on Wednesday, November 21. The ruling came in response to a preliminary injunction motion and request for expedited hearing filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) in Wake County Superior...
Alan McStravick for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A duck will carefully wade into the water before allowing her ducklings to follow suit. Bears will leave their young undercover before beckoning them into a clearing they have deemed safe. Your own mother would insist upon taking you by the hand before venturing across a city street. These are all protective acts of mothers in the animal kingdom. But not every mother necessarily subscribes to this model of parenting....
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Ethiopian wolf populations are genetically fragmenting, scientists say. This is cause for concern because the Ethiopian wolf is the world's rarest canine and fewer than 500 of Africa's only wolf species remain in the wild, according to BBC News. A 12-year study of the wolves, published in the journal Animal Conservation, reveals that there is little genetic flow between the small remaining populations in the Ethiopian highlands,...
Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online After studying the gray wolves of Yellowstone Park for 14 years, biologists have discovered the key to raising happy, healthy, productive wolf cubs. The secret? Cooperation and a nice, heavy mother. These gray wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s. Since then, the wolves have been widely studied by biologists and scientists as they work to figure out what makes these carnivorous populations...
What does it take to raise successful, self-sufficient offspring? A healthy mom with lots of in-house help, says Utah State University researcher Dan MacNulty. While this advice may benefit humans, a recent study by MacNulty and colleagues actually focuses on another group of large, social mammals – namely, wolves. "Using 14 years of data from the long-term study of wolves in Yellowstone National Park, we examined a number of key traits that allow wolves to overcome environmental...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Urban coyote populations could be just the beginning of animal predators making their way towards the big cities. Scientists have located a coyote territory about five miles from Chicago O'Hare International Airport that has been around for at least six years. "That's an indication that they don't have to go far to find food and water. They're finding everything they need right there, in the suburbs of Chicago," Stan Gehrt, an...
CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Sept. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Accidental shootings resulting in death or injury are a primary concern outlined in a court challenge filed today against an illegal state rule that allows spotlight hunting of coyotes at night throughout North Carolina, including in the area inhabited by the only wild population of red wolves, one of the world's most endangered animals. The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) filed the court challenge against the...
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Through their dietary and excretory habits, moose help transfer "significant" amounts of nitrogen from aquatic ecosystems to terrestrial ones, a research project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) has discovered. While land-based vegetation provides some sustenance for moose (Alces alces), it is low in sodium, forcing the creatures to consume aquatic macrophytes (large plants found in lakes, ponds, and wetlands)....
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Swiss biologists, including wolf expert Dr. Jean-Marc Landry from the Swiss Carnivore Research Group, are testing a new way to protect remote herds of sheep from wolves: text messaging. The wolf-warning device is a collar that will text the shepherd if the sheep's heart rate rises and stays high for a increased period of time. This signals that the sheep is in distress and needs help. The collar is seen as a replacement for expensive...
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...
