Eurasian Wolf

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Eurasian Wolf

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Canis
Species: C. lupus
Subspecies: C. l. lupus
Trinomial name
Canis lupus lupus
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Eurasian wolf range
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

Wikispecies has information related to:

[edit] Gallery

Old subspecies Canis lupus signatus now C. lupus lupus
Old subspecies Canis lupus signatus now C. lupus lupus