Biology:Tundra wolf
| Canis lupus albus | |
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| Taxidermy exhibit at the Museum of Zoology, St. Petersburg | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Genus: | Canis |
| Species: | |
| Subspecies: | C. l. albus
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| Trinomial name | |
| Canis lupus albus Kerr, 1792
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| Tundra wolf range | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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The tundra wolf (Canis lupus albus), also known as the Turukhan wolf,[2] is a subspecies of grey wolf native to northern Eurasia.
It was first classified in 1792 by Robert Kerr based on a description by Gerhard Friedrich Müller, who described it as living around the Yenisei, and of having a highly valued pelt.[3] Current recognition of this subspecies' distinctiveness hinges entirely on morphometric skull measurements, with a 2022 taxonomic study finding no further supporting evidence for its validity.[4]
Description
It is a large subspecies, though smaller than C. l. lupus, with adult males measuring 118–137 cm (46.5–54 in) in body length, and females 112–136 cm (44–53.5 in). Average weight is 40–49 kg (88–108 lb) for males and 36.6–41 kg (81–90 lb) for females. The highest weight recorded among 500 wolves caught in the Taymyr Peninsula and the Kanin Peninsula during 1951-1961 was from an old male killed on the Taymyr at the north of the Dudypta River weighing 52 kg (115 lb). The fur is very long, dense, fluffy, and soft, and is usually light grey in colour. The lower fur is lead-grey and the upper fur is reddish-grey.[5]
Range and ecology
The tundra wolf occurs throughout the tundra and forest-tundra regions of Eurasia, from the Kamchatka Peninsula westward to northern Europe. L. David Mech places the tundra wolf's westernmost occurrence at Finland,[2] while Vladimir Geptner placed it at "perhaps in the extreme north of the Scandinavian Peninsula".[5] The tundra wolf generally rests in river valleys, thickets and forest clearings.[6] In winter it feeds almost exclusively on female or young wild and domestic reindeer, though hares, arctic foxes and other animals are sometimes targeted. 93.1% of the stomach contents of 74 wolves caught in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug in the 1950s during the winter and spring months were found to consist of reindeer remains. In the summer, tundra wolves feed extensively on birds and small rodents, as well as newborn reindeer calves.[7]
References
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Wikispecies has information related to Canis lupus albus |
- ↑ Wozencraft, W.C. (2005). "Order Carnivora". in Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 532–628. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/biology/resources/msw3/browse.asp?id=14000738.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mech, L. David (1981). The Wolf: The Ecology and Behaviour of an Endangered Species. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-1026-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=VqfwAAAAMAAJ.
- ↑ Kerr, R. (1792), The animal kingdom, or zoological system, of the celebrated Sir Charles Linnæus: containing a complete systematic description, arrangement, and nomenclature, of all the known species and varieties of the mammalia, or animals which give suck to their young, Printed for A. Strahan, and T. Cadell, London, and W. Creech, Edinburgh, p. 137
- ↑ Werhahn, G.; Senn, H.; Macdonald, D. W.; Sillero-Zubiri, Claudio (25 April 2022). "The Diversity in the Genus Canis Challenges Conservation Biology: A Review of Available Data on Asian Wolves". Front. Ecol. Evol. 10. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:30bf03b3-83e7-4608-aba3-80107a78a9f8/files/rcn69m470g.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Heptner, V. G.; Naumov, N. P. (1998). Mammals of the Soviet Union Vol. II Part 1a, Sirenia and Carnivora (Sea cows; Wolves and Bears). Science Publishers, Inc. USA.. ISBN 978-1-886106-81-9. https://archive.org/details/mammalsofsov211998gept#page/182/mode/2up.
- ↑ Heptner, V. G.; Naumov, N. P. (1998). Mammals of the Soviet Union Vol. II Part 1a, Sirenia and Carnivora (Sea cows; Wolves and Bears). Science Publishers, Inc. USA.. ISBN 978-1-886106-81-9. https://archive.org/details/mammalsofsov211998gept#page/210/mode/2up.
- ↑ Heptner, V. G.; Naumov, N. P. (1998). Mammals of the Soviet Union Vol. II Part 1a, Sirenia and Carnivora (Sea cows; Wolves and Bears). Science Publishers, Inc. USA.. ISBN 978-1-886106-81-9. https://archive.org/details/mammalsofsov211998gept#page/216/mode/2up.
Template:Grey wolf subspecies Wikidata ☰ Q932176 entry
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