Eurasian wolf
Eurasian wolf | |
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Eurasian wolf in the Kolmården Wildlife Park, Sweden | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Family: | Canidae |
Genus: | Canis |
Species: | C. lupus |
Subspecies: | C. l. lupus
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Trinomial name | |
Canis lupus lupus | |
C. l. lupus range | |
Synonyms | |
List
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The Eurasian wolf (Canis lupus lupus), also known as the common wolf,
It is the largest of Old World grey wolves, averaging 39 kg (86 lb) in Europe;[6] however, exceptionally large individuals have weighed 69–79 kg (152–174 lb), though this varies according to region.[7][8] Its fur is relatively short and coarse,[3] and is generally of a tawny colour, with white on the throat that barely extends to the cheeks.[8] Melanists, albinos, and erythrists are rare, and mostly the result of wolf-dog hybridisation.[9] The howl of the Eurasian wolf is much more protracted and melodious than that of North American grey wolf subspecies, whose howls are louder and have a stronger emphasis on the first syllable. The two are, however, mutually intelligible, as North American wolves have been recorded to respond to European-style howls made by biologists.[10]
Many Eurasian wolf populations are forced to subsist largely on
Physical description
Build
In describing North American wolves, John Richardson used European wolves as a basis for comparison, summarising the differences between the two forms as:
The European wolf's head is narrower, and tapers gradually to form the nose, which is produced on the same plane with the forehead. Its ears are higher and somewhat nearer to each other; their length exceeds the distance between the auditory opening and the eye. Its loins are more slender, its legs longer, feet narrower, and its tail is more thinly clothed with fur. The shorter ears, broader forehead, and thicker muzzle of the American Wolf, with the bushiness of the hair behind the cheek, give it a physiognomy more like the social visage of an Esquimaux dog than the sneaking aspect of a European Wolf.[12]
Size
The size of Eurasian wolves is subject to geographic variation, with animals in Russia and Scandinavia being larger than those residing in Western Europe,
Range
Decline
The extermination of
In Central Europe, wolves were dramatically reduced in number during the early 19th century, due to organized hunts and reductions in ungulate populations. In Bavaria, the last wolf was killed in 1847, and had disappeared from the Rhine regions by 1899[20] and largely disappeared in Switzerland before the end of the 19th century. In 1934, Nazi Germany introduced the first legislation regulating the protection of wolves.[23] The last free-living wolf to be killed on the soil of present-day Germany before 1945 was the so-called "Tiger of Sabrodt", which was shot near Hoyerswerda, Lusatia (then Lower Silesia), in 1904. Today, wolves have returned to the area.[24]
Wolf hunting in France was first institutionalized by Charlemagne between 800 and 813, when he established the louveterie, a special corps of wolf hunters. The louveterie was abolished after the French Revolution in 1789, but was re-established in 1814. In 1883, up to 1,386 wolves were killed, with many more by poison.[20]
In
The grey wolf's range in the
As of 2017, the IUCN Red List still recorded the grey wolf as regionally extinct in eight European countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.[27] Since then, wolves have returned to and, in some cases, firmly established themselves in all of those countries, except for the islands of Ireland and Great Britain.
Recovery
The recovery of European wolf populations began after the 1950s, when traditional pastoral and rural economies declined and thus removed the need to heavily persecute wolves. By the 1980s, small and isolated wolf populations expanded in the wake of decreased human density in rural areas and the recovery of wild prey populations.[26]
In 1978, wolves began recolonising central Sweden after a 12-year absence, and have since expanded into southern Norway. As of 2005, the total number of Swedish and Norwegian wolves was estimated to be at least 100, including 11 breeding pairs. The grey wolf is fully protected in Sweden and partially controlled in Norway. The Scandinavian wolf populations owe their continued existence to neighbouring Finland's contiguity with the Republic of Karelia, which houses a large population of wolves. Wolves in Finland are protected throughout the country, and can be hunted only with specific permission.[26] As of December 2021, the Swedish-Norwegian wolf seems to be extinct and any wolf individuals found in these countries appear to be solely Finland wolves.[28] The decline in the moose populations has reduced the wolf's food supply.[29][30] Since 2011, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark have also reported wolf sightings presumably by natural migration from adjacent countries.[31][32][27]
Wolf populations in Poland have increased to about 800–900 individuals since being classified as a game species in 1976, now for more than two decades under legal protection in Annex V and II of the
Poland plays a fundamental role in providing routes of expansion into neighbouring Central European countries. In the east, its range overlaps with populations in Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and Slovakia. A population in western Poland expanded into eastern Germany, and in 2000, the first pups were born on German territory.[34] In 2012, an estimated 14 wolf packs were living in Germany (mostly in the east) and a pack with pups has been sighted within 24 km (15 mi) of Berlin.[35] Since then, the population has steadily increased and the area of distribution has grown and extended to large parts of the Federal Republic.[36] In the monitoring year 2020/21, there were a total of 157 packs, 27 pairs and 19 individual territorial animals in 11 federal states. The number of pups was 556. Since the summer of 2021, around 1400 wolves, adult animals and young ones, are estimated to be living in Germany.[37]
As of 1st of June 2021 the grey wolf is protected in Slovakia and can't be killed, bought, sold. A few Slovak wolves disperse into the Czech Republic, where they are afforded full protection. Wolves in Slovakia, Ukraine, and Croatia may disperse into Hungary, where the lack of cover hinders the buildup of an autonomous population. Although wolves have special status in Hungary, they may be hunted with a year-round permit if they cause problems.[26] Romania has a large population of wolves, numbering 2500 animals. The wolf has been a protected animal in Romania since 1996, although the law is not enforced. The number of wolves in Albania and North Macedonia is largely unknown, despite the importance the two countries have in linking wolf populations from Greece to those of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Although protected, many wolves are illegally killed in Greece annually, and their future is uncertain. Wolf numbers have declined in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1986, while the species is fully protected in neighbouring Croatia and Slovenia.[26]
Wolf populations throughout
Legal protection
The Eurasian wolf and the Italian wolf are legally protected in most European countries, either by listing in the annexes of the
For EU member states, an application for a change in the listing of the wolf in the annexes to the Habitats Directive requires the approval of the Division for Large Carnivores in the European Commission, in which members of the LCIE have an advisory role.[39][40] States outside the EU which are signatories to the Bern Convention may submit a corresponding application for a change of protection status to the Standing Committee of the Berne Convention, in which the LCIE also has an advisory role. For example, Switzerland submitted such a request in 2006, which was rejected at the time.[41] In 2018, Switzerland again requested the reduction of the protection status. Due to the passive behaviour of the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe, processing is delayed.[42][43][44] (See also Favourable conservation status of wolves in Europe).
Conflicts
Attacks on grazing animals
In Switzerland in 2021, 853 wolf attacks occurred in a population of 153 wolves in the presence of about 200 livestock guardian dogs.[46][47][48] In Germany between 2000 and 2019, the number of wolf attacks on grazing animals increased from none to 890 in one year, while the number of animals injured and killed increased to 2900, indicating a specialisation in grazing animals and frequent surplus killing events.[49]
In France, the number of animals captured in unprotected flocks decreased between 2010 and 2015 as more and more flocks were protected, but the number of animals killed in protected flocks increased.[50] During this period the behaviour of the wolves changed in such a way that with increasing habituation the proportion of wolf attacks during the day increased.[51] In 2018 there was an estimated loss of 12,500 farm animals caused by wolf attacks in the French Alpine arc, with a population of about 500 wolves and several thousand livestock guardian dogs.[46] Despite new measures to protect herds, there were 3,838 sightings of wolves in 2019 in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and compensation was paid for 12,491 detected wolf attacks.[52]
In some regions,
Attacks on humans
According to documented data, man-eating (not rabid) wolves killed 111 people in Estonia in the years from 1804 to 1853, 108 of them were children, two men and one woman. Of the 108 children, 59 were boys aged 1 – 15 years (average age 7.3 years) and 47 girls aged 1 – 17 years (average age 7.2 years). For two children, sex and age were not specified."[54] So in Estonia, 111 deaths were reported in about 50 years, with an average of two per year over a country area of 45,227 km2, and with some injured people who survived a wolf attack. The wolves that immigrated to Central Europe come from this Baltic population. Due to the abundance of game and many grazing animals still living in species-appropriate free range management, the wolves in Europe are not yet interested in children as prey.[55]
In France, historical records compiled by rural historian Jean-Marc Moriceau indicate that during the period 1362–1918, nearly 7,600 people were killed by wolves, of whom 4,600 were killed by non
Several Russian zoologists after the October Revolution cast doubt on the veracity of records involving wolf-caused deaths. Prominent among them was zoologist Petr Aleksandrovich Manteifel, who initially regarded all cases as either fiction or the work of rabid animals. His writings were widely accepted among Russian zoological circles, though he subsequently changed his stance when he was tasked with heading a special commission after World War II investigating wolf attacks throughout the Soviet Union, which had increased during the war years. A report presented in November 1947 described numerous attacks, including ones perpetrated by apparently healthy animals, and gave recommendations on how to better defend against them. The Soviet authorities prevented the document from reaching both the public and those who would otherwise be assigned to deal with the problem.[58] All mention of wolf attacks was subsequently censored.[59]
Relationships with humans
Myths
The majority of pre-Christian wolf-related traditions in Eurasia were rooted in
Less flattering portrayals occurred in
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