The Eastern Wolf What we do and do not know...

Linda Rutledge Trent University “... there are two varieties of the wolf inhabiting the Catskill Mountains in the United States, one with a light greyhound-like form, which pursues deer, and the other more bulky, with shorter legs, which more frequently attacks the shepherd’s flocks.” Charles Darwin (1859) Greyhounds & Mastiffs small... small... reddish... small... reddish... deer-eater... small... reddish... deer-eater... eastern US/Canada

Algonquin wolves have...

Eastern Coyote Algonquin Wolf NE Ontario Wolf

a small skull Algonquin wolves have...

a small body Algonquin wolves have...

a reddish pelage Algonquin wolves are...

deer-eaters Algonquin wolves are...

greyish Algonquin wolves are...

black Algonquin wolves are...

moose-eaters Algonquin wolves are...

... variable mtDNA mtDNA grey wolves mtDNA coyotes

grey wolves mtDNA eastern wolves

coyotes

grey wolves mtDNA Y Wilson et al. 2000 Wilson et al. 2000 Forest clearing & wolf eradication led to eastern invasion by western coyotes Red Wolf Great Lakes Wolf Eastern Coyote

Eastern Wolves Canis lycaon (x latrans x lupus) Algonquin Type Grey Wolf Eastern Timber Wolf Eastern Wolf Canis lupus x lycaon Eastern Timber Wolf Boreal Grey Wolf Ontario Grey Wolf Great Lakes Wolf Eastern Wolf? Canis lycaon? Canis latrans x lycaon Tweed Wolf Brush Wolf Eastern Coyote Coywolf Algonquin Park Wolves: Southern Edge of a Metapopulation? Coyote Algonquin Wolf Grey Wolf Hybrid

What we don’t know... What we don’t know...

? “One should never quarrel about words, and never get involved in questions of terminology. ”

Karl Popper

Karl Popper ESA & COSEWIC think in terms of “species” and “population size”. 2.4 billion nucleotides

2.4 billion nucleotides 2.4 billion nucleotides 19,300 genes

2.4 billion nucleotides 2.4 billion nucleotides 19,300 genes

< 0.00002% 2.4 billion nucleotides Algonquin wolf is the eastern wolf. Canis lycaon Great Lakes wolf is a grey-eastern hybrid. Canis lupus x lycaon Eastern coyote is a coyote-eastern wolf hybrid. Canis latrans x lycaon