Common names for animals can vary from place to place. There is no such thing as a “Canadian Gray Wolf.” It is a term that has been embraced by the anti-wolf crowd and is purely fiction. The “timber wolf” is simply another name for the gray wolf. " The myth of “Canadian Gray Wolf” comes from deliberate mis-interpretation of common colloquial names (timber wolf, etc.) and the term sub-species. Here is a discussion on this very subject on Reddit (I was not the author): Is that a decent assumption or since it’s all historic anyway, it’s of minimal importance? He also stated that what Idahoans called the “native” wolves were Plains Wolves that use to roam in the desert regions of southern Idaho rather than the forested mountains. His response was there was no significantly size difference in wolf capturing after the introductions suggesting that the wolves that transported to Idaho were not under the effect of Bergmann’s Rule, which is the idea widespread species get larger the further north you go. So all of my information is based off of reading two scientific papers and that really doesn’t designate me as an expert so thoughts, opinions, etc to help me understand the situation would be great.Īs a final word on the subject, I did read an opinion article posted by an Idaho Fish & Wildlife biologist after someone asked why Canadian wolves were introduced and they “wiped” out the native wolves. I suppose confliction occurs when you decide which subspecies should be reintroduce into Colorado, the Northern Timber or Plains Wolf, but I’m not sure if it really matters. If that’s the case, it seems to my eyes that size differences occur west-east instead of north-south and that to an extent the wolves that use to occur in Montana/Idaho is the historic subspecies in the first place so there shouldn’t be any size differences. I looked up the systematics of wolves and if we use Nowak (2003), which it seems iNat agrees with. But I still hear comments from locals, “they’re Canadian wolves, they’re not suppose to be here and they’re calling off the ‘native’ wolves.” What exactly does that mean? Now I live on the outskirts of a pack’s territory in Oregon and to this day, I still haven’t seen them let alone had any problems with them going after my livestock. I’m hardly an expert on the topic, all I tell you is, I practically grew up on wolves in Montana and we never had a problem with them. They are supposedly “bigger, stronger, more aggressive” than the smaller US wolves and supposedly kill for sport, and such reintroductions will decimate the already declining deer and elk populations. With the arise of Gray Wolves being reintroduced to Colorado and the first one being spotted in California in a hundred years, I’m seeing a lot of vocal comments pertaining to “Canadian” or “Mackenzie” Wolf.
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