Vancouver Island wolf
| Vancouver Island Wolf | |
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| White wolf at the Greater Vancouver Zoo (top); captive grey Vancouver Island wolf at Grouse Mountain | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Canidae |
| Genus: | Canis |
| Species: | C. lupus |
| Subspecies: | C. l. crassodon |
| Trinomial name | |
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Canis lupus crassodon Hall, 1932 |
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The Vancouver Island wolf (Canis lupus crassodon) is a subspecies of grey wolf, endemic to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. It is very social with other wolves, and lives in packs of about five to thirty-five. It is an endangered subspecies, very shy, and is rarely seen by humans. Wolves at the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve area have been known to attack and kill unguarded domestic dogs. There are also two Vancouver Island Wolves at the Greater Vancouver Zoo.
As of 2005[update], it is considered a valid subspecies by MSW3. It is classed as a synonym of C. l. occidentalis by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Studies using 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. 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), Canis lupus columbianus (British Columbia wolf), and Canis lupus crassodon (Vancouver Island wolf) should be recognized as a single subspecies of Canis lupus.
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Wikipedia