The Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) is the most genetically distinct subspecies of gray wolf in North America. Of the five North American subspecies, the Mexican wolf is the smallest in size. A typical Mexican wolf is about 4.5- 5.5 feet long, from snout to tail, weighs from 50 to 90 pounds, and has a coat with a mix of buff, gray, red and black. Like all wolves, the Mexican wolf communicates using body language, scent marking and vocalization. The main prey for Mexican wolves is elk making up 74% of their diet. Other prey include white-tailed deer, mule deer, javelina, jack rabbit, cottontail rabbits and smaller mammals.
Commonly called "lobo", the Mexican gray wolf has all but disappeared from its historic range in the southwestern United States and throughout Mexico. Predatory controls from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s made it the rarest gray wolf in North America. By the late 1970s, the Mexican gray wolf had virtually disappeared in the southwestern United States. It was listed as endangered on the federal endangered species list in 1976. Recovery goals of a wild population of at least 100 wolves over 5,000 miles of its historical range were approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Direccion General de la Fauna Silvestre in Mexico in a 1982 recovery plan.
In 1997, a plan was approved calling for the reintroduction of Mexican wolves in Arizona and New Mexico. In March 1998, 11 Mexican gray wolves in three family groups were released into the wilds of the Apache National Forest of southeastern Arizona. Two additional wolves were released later that year. The highlight of the recovery program took place in 1998 when, for the first time in 50 years, a Mexican gray wolf pup was born in the wild.
Illegal shooting still remains the number one killer of wolves along the Arizona-New Mexico border having claimed 20 wolves since 1998. In 2005, the USFWS plans to release a revised recovery plan and may also revise the rules to allow for broader roaming privileges letting the wolves roam outside of the current recovery area which is considered too limited by some. Environmentalists and some ranchers agree that the human-wolf conflict could be eased if wolves weren't so concentrated.
Currently, there are 50 Mexican wolves roaming free in the wild. This number is halfway to the 100-wolf population goal for 2008. There are 260 wolves at 45 captive breeding facilities throughout the country.
