Eurasian Wolf
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eurasian Wolf |
||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||||||||||
Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
Canis lupus lupus (Linnaeus, 1758) |
||||||||||||||||
Eurasian wolf range
|
The Eurasian Wolf (Canis lupus lupus), also known as the Common Wolf, is a subspecies of the Gray Wolf (Canis lupus). The Eurasian Wolf is almost identical in both aspect and behavior to the Great Plains Wolf of North America.
The Eurasian Wolf has been known to interbreed with the Tundra Wolf (Canis lupus albus) in Siberia, where the two subspecies' ranges meet. Its wide distribution is partly due to taxonomical reasons; several proposed subspecies (C. l. desertorum, C. l. campestris, C. l. chanco, C.l signatus) have recently been merged into a single classification.
The total Eurasian Wolf population is roughly estimated to be 100,000 individuals.
Contents |
[edit] Distribution
Originally spread over most of Eurasia, with a southern limit of the Himalayas, the Hindukush, the Koppet Dag, the Caucasus, the Black Sea and the Alps, and a northern limit between 60° and 70° northern latitude, it has been pushed back from most of Western Europe and Eastern China, surviving mostly in Central Asia.
[edit] Wolves in Europe
Estimates of the number of wolves in Europe (in 2000): Slovakia 130 to 1000, France 10, Germany 20 (2006), Spain 500 to 2000, Italy 400, Finland over 200 (2005), Poland 900, Russia 10,000.
[edit] External links
- International Wolf Center
- (French) News on the wolf, lynx and brown bear in France
- (French) News on the increasing numbers of wolves in France and Italy
- news on the wolves in German media
- The return of the wolf in Germany
- Wolfs and hybrids in Sachsen
- A map with the distribution of the wolves in europe (PDF)
- Report on the return of the wolf in Switzerland
- The Wolves and Humans Foundation