The British Columbia wolf (''Canis lupus columbianus'') is a
subspecies of gray wolf
There are 38 subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' listed in the taxonomic authority ''Mammal Species of the World'' (2005, 3rd edition). These subspecies were named over the past 250 years, and since their naming, a number of them have gone extinct. T ...
which lives in a narrow region that includes those parts of the mainland coast and near-shore islands that are covered with temperate rainforest, which extends from Vancouver Island,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, to the
Alexander Archipelago
The Alexander Archipelago (russian: Архипелаг Александра) is a long archipelago (group of islands) in North America lying off the southeastern coast of Alaska. It contains about 1,100 islands, the tops of submerged coastal m ...
in south-east
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
.
[ This area is bounded by the ]Coast Mountains
The Coast Mountains (french: La chaîne Côtière) are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia ...
.[
]
Taxonomy
The wolf was first classed as a distinct subspecies in 1941 by Edward Goldman, who described his specimen as being large with a skull closely resembling that of '' C. l. pambasileus'', and whose fur is generally of a cinnamon-buff colour.[
Studies using ]mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...
have indicated that the wolves of coastal south-east Alaska are genetically distinct from inland gray wolves, reflecting a pattern also observed in other taxa.[ They show a phylogenetic relationship with extirpated wolves from the south (Oklahoma), indicating that these wolves are the last remains of a once widespread group that has been largely extirpated during the last century, and that the wolves of northern North America had originally expanded from southern refuges below the Wisconsin glaciation after the ice had melted at the end of the ]Last Glacial Maximum
The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Late Glacial Maximum, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period that ice sheets were at their greatest extent.
Ice sheets covered much of Northern North America, Northern Eur ...
. These findings call into question the taxonomic classification of ''C. l. nulibus'' proposed by Nowak.[ Another study found that the wolves of coastal British Columbia were genetically and ecologically distinct from the inland wolves, including other wolves from inland British Columbia.][ A study of the three coastal wolves indicated a close phylogenetic relationship across regions that are geographically and ecologically contiguous, and the study proposed that ''Canis lupus ligoni'' (]Alexander Archipelago wolf
The Alexander Archipelago wolf (''Canis lupus ligoni''), also known as the Islands wolf,
Sitnews.us (2008-07-11). R ...
), ''Canis lupus columbianus'' (British Columbia wolf), and ''Canis lupus crassodon'' (Vancouver Island wolf
The Vancouver Coastal sea wolf or Vancouver coastal island wolf (''Canis lupus crassodon'') is a subspecies of grey wolf, endemic to Great Bear Rainforest and northern Vancouver Island within the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. It l ...
) should be recognized as a single subspecies of ''Canis lupus''.[
In 2016, two studies compared the DNA sequences of 42,000 ]single nucleotide polymorphisms
In genetics, a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP ; plural SNPs ) is a germline substitution of a single nucleotide at a specific position in the genome. Although certain definitions require the substitution to be present in a sufficiently larg ...
in North American gray wolves and found the coastal wolves to be genetically and phenotypically distinct from other wolves.[ They share the same habitat and prey species, and form one of the study's six identified ]ecotypes
In evolutionary ecology, an ecotype,Greek: ''οίκος'' = home and ''τύπος'' = type, coined by Göte Turesson in 1922 sometimes called ecospecies, describes a genetically distinct geographic variety, population, or race within a species, ...
– a genetically and ecologically distinct population separated from other populations by their different type of habitat.[ The local adaptation of a wolf ecotype most likely reflects the wolf's preference to remain in the type of habitat that it was born into.][ Wolves that prey on fish and small deer in wet, coastal environments tend to be smaller than other wolves.][
]
Description
The British Columbia wolf is one of the largest subspecies of North American wolves.
They weigh around 80 (36 kg) to 150 pounds (68 kg) and are roughly 5ft (152 cm) to 5ft 10 (178 cm) long.
These wolves have long coats which were usually black, often mixed with grey, or brown.
References
External links
Photos and footage of British Columbia sea wolves
{{Taxonbar, from=Q719570
Subspecies of Canis lupus
Mammals described in 1941
Taxa named by Edward Alphonso Goldman