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Glimpse of an African… Wolf? Cécile Bloch

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$6.95 Glimpse of an African… Wolf ? PAGE 4 Saving the Red Wolf Through Partnerships PAGE 9 Are Gray Wolves Still Endangered? PAGE 14 Make Your Home Howl Members Save 10% Order today at shop.wolf.org or call 1-800-ELY-WOLF Your purchases help support the mission of the International Wolf Center. VOLUME 25, NO. 1 THE QUARTERLY PUBLICATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER SPRING 2015 4 Cécile Bloch 9 Jeremy Hooper 14 Don Gossett In the Long Shadow of The Red Wolf Species Survival Are Gray Wolves Still the Pyramids and Beyond: Plan: Saving the Red Wolf Endangered? Glimpse of an African…Wolf? Through Partnerships In December a federal judge ruled Geneticists have found that some In 1967 the number of red wolves that protections be reinstated for of Africa’s golden jackals are was rapidly declining, forcing those gray wolves in the Great Lakes members of the gray wolf lineage. remaining to breed with the more wolf population area, reversing Biologists are now asking: how abundant coyote or not to breed at all. the USFWS’s 2011 delisting many golden jackals across Africa The rate of hybridization between the decision that allowed states to are a subspecies known as the two species left little time to prevent manage wolves and implement African wolf? Are Africa’s golden red wolf genes from being completely harvest programs for recreational jackals, in fact, wolves? absorbed into the expanding coyote purposes. If biological security is population. The Red Wolf Recovery by Cheryl Lyn Dybas apparently not enough rationale for Program, working with many other conservation of the species, then the organizations, has created awareness challenge arises to properly express and laid a foundation for the future to the ecological value of the species. conserve the species. by Mike Phillips by Jeremy Hooper On the Cover Departments Photo by Cécile Bloch. 3 From the Executive Director Did you know... 17 Tracking the Pack One easy way for you to help us conserve natural resources is to make sure we have 20 Wolves of the World your email address. Simply email your 23 Book Reviews address to [email protected]. 24 Personal Encounter 26 Wild Kids International Wolf Center International Wolf 28 A Look Beyond Publications Director David E. Kline Graphics Coordinator PASSION Carissa L. Winter Consulting Editor Marianne Strozewski Technical Editor Dr. L. David Mech Graphic Designer Tricia Austin Great Gift! International Wolf (1089-683X) is published quarterly and copyrighted, 2015, by the International Wolf Center, 3410 Winnetka Ave. N., Minneapolis, MN 55427, USA. email: [email protected]. All rights reserved. Publications agreement no. 1536338 Membership in the International Wolf Center includes a subscription to International Wolf magazine, free admission to the Center and discounts on programs and merchandise. Membership Levels: (in U.S. dollars) • Wolf Pup $25 (students • Wolf Associate $125 age 21 and under) • Wolf Tracker $250 Luna—Photo by Darcy Berus • Lone Wolf $45 • Wolf Sponsor $500 (individual) • Alpha Wolf $1,000 • Wolf Pack $75 (family at same address) For those outside the United States, please add an LEGACY additional $15 to Wolf Pup, Lone Wolf, Wolf Pack and Wolf Associate memberships. Your care and passion for wolves can have a lasting impact beyond Please mail membership payment to: International your lifetime. Wolf Center Administrative Office, Attn: Membership, 3410 Winnetka Ave. N., Minneapolis, MN 55427, USA. By choosing to leave a planned gift to the International Wolf Center, Please contact the membership department with questions: 763-560-7374 ext. 227 or [email protected]. you will help secure their future and you will become a member of International Wolf is a forum for airing perspectives, the Alpha Legacy Society with all its benefits. science-based information and personal experiences about wolves. Articles and materials printed in Inter- If you have already included the Center in your estate planning, we national Wolf do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the International Wolf Center or its board of directors. thank you and ask that you let us know about your commitment. International Wolf welcomes submissions of personal This will help us honor your wishes and recognize your intent. adventures with wolves and wolf photo graphs. Prior to submission of other types of manu scripts, address Call today to start planning your legacy. queries to David Kline, publications director. 763-560-7374 ext. 225. PHOTOS: Unless otherwise noted, or obvious from the caption or article text, photos are of captive wolves. International Wolf is printed entirely with soy ink Thank you. on FSC® certified paper. We encour- FSC logo here age you to recycle this magazine. 2 Spring 2015 www.wolf.org From the Executive Director INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER Raptors, Meet Our Wolves BOARD OF DIRECTORS Nancy jo Tubbs s an education-oriented organization celebrating its 30th year, we’re fascinated with Chair Dr. L. David Mech the relationship wolves have with many animal species. Like wolves, birds of Vice Chair prey command interest and reverence worldwide. We’re excited to partner with Cree Bradley A Secretary raptor organizations and experts starting this May to bring a new exhibit for all ages to the Paul B. Anderson International Wolf Center’s interpretive center in Ely, Minnesota. Through demonstrations Treasurer featuring live raptors, educational displays, and beautiful photography from Minnesota’s Cindy Carvelli-Yu Rick Duncan Heidi Pinkerton, we hope to enlighten the tens of thousands of annual Nancy Gibson visitors about other majestic predators. Debbie Hinchcliffe Judy Hunter With our bias towards interactive learning, this temporary exhibit, Raptors … Deborah Wold Lewis Predators from the Sky, will teach about the habitat, prey, biology and behavior Dr. Rolf O. Peterson of these carnivorous birds. We invite you to swoop in and become uplifted Mike Phillips Debbie Reynolds by the eagle, falcon, hawk, owl, condor, kestrel, vulture, kite, osprey, merlin, Jerry Sanders harrier and more! Paul Schurke Rob Schultz Dick Thiel Many of us venture out into the world’s wildlands to enjoy tranquility and Ray Wells beauty, while building lasting memories with family and friends. Although, unfortunately, Teri Williams we rarely see wolves and other apex predators in the wild, a look skyward will often EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR reward us with a glimpse—and if we are prepared, a photograph—of a soaring predator. Rob Schultz Heidi’s stunning raptor photos will serve as encouragement to the photographer in all of us. MISSION Our summer issue of International Wolf will have more The International Wolf Center advances the survival about this educational exhibit, as will www.wolf.org. of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their We hope you’ll join us in Ely from May 2015 through relationship to wildlands and May 2016 to learn together about raptors and, of the human role in their future. course, wolves. n Educational services and informational resources are available at: 1396 Highway 169 © Heidi Pinkerton Ely, MN 55731-8129, USA 800-ELY-WOLF 218-365-4695 email address: [email protected] Rob Schultz, executive director Web site: www.wolf.org International Wolf Spring 2015 3 In the Illustration: Shutterstock/IRStone Long Shadow of the Pyramids and Beyond: Glimpse of an African… Wolf? Cécile Bloch 4 Spring 2015 www.wolf.org by CHERYL LYN DYBAS A New Wolf in Town Skikda and El-Kala; and one in Mali, Adrar des floras, Terarabat. They also heune, Senegal.The village, found that two other seeming golden perched along the Senegal jackals were mostly African wolves. Both K River, doesn’t appear on a were in Senegal, one a captive animal at map, but it’s the site of one of the most the Zoo du Parc de Hann in Dakar, and far-reaching conservation genetics one in the wild not far from Kheune. discoveries of the decade. There Africa’s Mitochondrial DNA, which the first gray wolf, Canis lupus lupaster, scientists used in their study, “shows only formerly thought to be the golden jackal part of the picture of the African wolf’s Canis aureus, lopes across the rolling sandy lineage,” says biologist Dr. L. David Mech plains of the western Sahel. The “new of the U.S. Geological Survey and the wolf” has a range that extends more than University of Minnesota. It tells us about 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) from Egypt the wolf’s heritage through the mother’s to Senegal. Biologist Philippe Gaubert of side; nuclear DNA offers a more com- the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle plete view. As with other wild canids, in Paris and his colleagues reported studies (and scientific journal papers the finding in the August, 2012, issue of to be published soon) are underway the journal PLOS ONE. to reveal its origins and genetic makeup. When the wolf was initially dis- Is lupaster a wolf or a close relative? covered by geneticists in 2011, its range, While the research is ongoing, they believed, was confined to Ethiopia “our assessment of the African wolf’s and Egypt. Now biologists are asking: range supports the idea of a wide how many golden jackals across Africa spectrum of habitats for the species,” are in fact wolves? “Unique field observa- says Gaubert, “from Mediterranean coastal tions in Senegal allowed us to provide a and hill areas, including hedged farm- diagnosis of the ‘African wolf’ that clearly lands, scrublands, pinewoods and oak distinguished it from the golden jackal,” forests in Algeria, to tropical, semi-arid says Gaubert. But hybridization between savannas in Senegal and massifs in Mali.” the two may be happening, at least in This range, he says, poses the question Senegal, based on detection of Canis of how such large carnivores went un- lupus lupaster genes in Canis aureus there.
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