MEXICAN GRAY WOLF
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION & FACTS
The Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) also known as "Lobo" is critically endangered and a part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan which was initiated in 1981. Mexican wolves weigh 50-80 lbs and stand approximately 2 feet tall. Their diet consists of ungulates like elk, mule deer, and white-tailed deer. They also eat small rodents such as rabbits and javelinas.
Mexican wolves function in social structures that include a breeding male and female and their offspring. Mexican wolves mate from mid-February to mid-March. The breeding pair will care for their offspring until they reach sexual maturity at about 10 months of age.
Mexican wolves once ranged throughout the southwestern regions of the U.S. including Colorado, Utah, and Texas. Today, Mexican wolves are only found in southwest New Mexico and the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area and Fort Apache Reservation in Arizona. Outside of North America, Mexican wolves can also be found in a small pocket of northern Mexico.
HISTORY & CONSERVATION
Mexican wolves face mortalities such as human activity, which include illegal poaching, habitat loss, and poisoning. Mexican gray wolves had nearly been eradicated from the United States in the early 1970s, but that would soon change when the Mexican gray wolf was relisted and classified as endangered in 1976 under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
As a recovery began, wolves were captured in Mexico and brought to a captive breeding facility between 1977 and 1980. In 1982, the USFWS's Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan was coordinated. In 1998, 11 Mexican wolves were reintroduced into Arizona and New Mexico after a nearly 30-year-long absence. Today, approximately 251 Mexican wolves remain in the wild.
We advocate for Mexican gray wolves, explain their importance, and join the fights and campaigns to save them. Our own campaigns are yet to be launched but are soon to come. Stay tuned!
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