Howling Mexican Gray Wolves

The Mexican Gray Wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) is a genetically distinct and critically endangered subspecies of the Gray Wolf. As humans spread across the Southwest in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, they hunted white-tailed deer and other species upon which the Mexican Gray Wolf, or lobo, depended for food. As deer populations plummeted, wolves began to prey on livestock to supplement their diets, and before long ranchers, government officials, hunters, and trappers sought to protect their own interests by the widespread killing of wolves. In 1976. the Mexican Gray Wolf was declared an endangered subspecies and efforts to save them increased. 

According to Jean C. Ossorio of mexicangraywolf.org, "every lobo alive today descends from only seven remaining animals--that's how close they came to being wiped out." 52 Mexican Gray Wolves roamed free in the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area of Arizona as of January 2008.  An estimated 300 more live in nearly 50 facilities in the United States and Mexico.  The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is home to three Mexican gray wolves. Visit them at our Mountain Forest Habitat.

Your purchases help care for the animals at ASDM. Support the conservation and recovery of Mexican Gray Wolves by starting your own little pack today! (KY)