Mexican wolf Canis lupus baileyi Aletris M. Neils & Geoffrey H. Palmer

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Mexican wolf Canis lupus baileyiAletris M.
Neils Geoffrey H. Palmer
Natural History

• The Mexican Gray Wolf is the rarest, most
  genetically distinct, and smallest subspecies of
  the gray wolf in North America.
• Males are up to 5.5 long (around the size of a
  German Shepherd dog), with females slightly
  smaller
• Adults weigh 50 to 80 lbs.
• Mexican wolves live in packs consisting of one
  adult (alpha) pair, pups, and related yearlings
• Howling is an important form of wolf
  communication
• Breeding occurs in February, and litters of up to
  8 pups are born in mid-April
• Diet includes deer, elk, pronghorn, small
  mammals, and livestock

Figure 1. The Mexican Wolf Running
Figure 4. Mexican Wolf Range Map.
Figure 5. Mexican Wolf Tracks.
Figure 3. The release of a wolf.
Figure 2. Dead wolf carcasses.
Figure 6. Female Mexican Wolf.
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Mexican wolf Canis lupus baileyiAletris M.
Neils Geoffrey H. Palmer
Natural History

• The Mexican Gray Wolf is the rarest, most
  genetically distinct, and smallest subspecies of
  the gray wolf in North America.
• Males are up to 5.5 long (around the size of a
  German Shepherd dog), with females slightly
  smaller
• Adults weigh 50 to 80 lbs.
• Mexican wolves live in packs consisting of one
  adult (alpha) pair, pups, and related yearlings
• Howling is an important form of wolf
  communication
• Breeding occurs in February, and litters of up to
  8 pups are born in mid-April
• Diet includes deer, elk, pronghorn, small
  mammals, and livestock

Figure 1. The Mexican Wolf Running
Figure 4. Mexican Wolf Range Map.
Figure 5. Mexican Wolf Tracks.
Figure 3. The release of a wolf.
Figure 2. Dead wolf carcasses.
Figure 6. Female Mexican Wolf.
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Jaguar Mountain lion Panthera Onca Puma
concolorAletris M. Neils Geoffrey H. Palmer

• The 5th largest cat in the world
• Males are over 2 tall at the shoulder and can
• be over 8 long
• ? weigh 115-200 lbs/ ? are slightly smaller
• Can purr, but cannot roar
• Only eat fresh meat. Diet includes deer, elk,
  
• bighorn sheep, javelina, and livestock
• Ambush hunter and stalks its prey
• Solitary animal
• Territory size depends on the amount of prey

Figure 1. The Jaguar.
Figure 2. The Mountain Lion or Puma.
Figure 3. Deer trying to get though the US-
Mexico boarder fence.
Figure 4. Puma Range in North America.
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Grizzly bear Black bear Ursus arctos ursus
americanusAletris M. Neils Geoffrey H. Palmer

• Black bears are shy, curious and intelligent
• Diet primarily consists of berries, roots,
  insects, cactus fruit, and sometimes vertebrates
• Males weigh from 150-600 lbs./ Females weigh
  from 100-350 lbs.
• Cubs are born in January stay with the mother
  for 1.5 years
• They can live up to 20 years of age in wild
• Habitat primarily found at elevations between
  4,000 -10,000
• Generally hibernate  from November through
  March
• Vary in color from black, to brown, to blond
  and cinnamon.

Figure 1. The Grizzly Bear.
Figure 1. The Black Bear.
Bear Encounters Grizzly Bear
Black Bear

• Just in case! - Black bears normally avoid
  contact with people, although they can be
  attracted to our trash. If you do encounter a
  bear, do not corner or provoke it. If you feel
  threatened, try to look larger than you are.
  Back away slowly and if you are being attacked,
  fight back!

• Just in case! - Grizzly bears normally avoid
  contact with people. Even so, they can be
  extremely dangerous. If you see a bear, try to
  back away slowly and if you are being attacked it
  is best to play dead.

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Conserving Top Carnivores in Ecosystems
Preventing an Environmental CollapseAletris M.
Neils Geoffrey H. Palmer

• What is an apex predator?
• An apex predator is an animal
• that is not prey to other
• animals and is at the top of
• the food chain.
• In the diagram below, the wolf
• and lynx both act as apex
• predators in the ecosystem.

• What happens when an apex predator is
• removed from an ecosystem?
• The ecosystem undergoes a systematic
• collapse, a trophic cascade where primary
• consumers negatively impact primary
• producers
• The diagram below represents the impact a
• cougar has on an ecosystem. Without the
• cougar, deer proliferate, consuming all of the
  
• vegetation they can reach.
• As a result, resources are no longer available
• to other animals, and the soil begins eroding.

• What is a trophic level?
• A trophic pyramid represents the
• energy flow through an
• ecosystem.
• Each step up the pyramid is
• accompanied by a roughly 90
• reduction in energy.
• Because of this loss of energy,
• there is a limit to the number of
• levels, and also accounts for the
• number of individuals of each
• species in a single trophic level.

• What can be done to save ecosystems where
• the apex predators have been extirpated
• (made locally extinct) by humans?
• Re-introducing the species that acted as the
• apex predator back into the ecosystem has
• been shown to restore control over the over-
• populated primary consumers.
• Over time, the rest of the ecosystem begins
• to recover as primary producers (plants) are
• able to regenerate and provide food and
• shelter for the entire suite of animals
• initially found in that ecosystem.
• The reintroduction of wolves into

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Eradication efforts begin
Currently 52 in the wild
Reintroduction begins
Listed as endangered
Extinct in the wild
2009
1890s
1970s
1976
1998