Mexican Wolf Facts

The Mexican wolf is an endangered species. According to the Arizona Game &Fish Department website it is "considered the rarest of all gray wolf subspecies." This unique species was mostly found in the southwest United States, in New Mexico, Arizona and Texas until it was virtually wiped out. The Mexican Wolf Recovery Project is a cooperative endeavor to reintroduce the wolves into their endemic habitat.

  1. Description

    • Mexican wolves grow to be about 26 to 32 inches tall, when measured up to their shoulder. Their length is about 4.5 to 5.5 feet from their nose to the end of their tail. The average weight of a Mexican wolf is 60 to 80 pounds. Females are normally shorter and lighter than males. These gray wolves live up to 15 years in captivity.

    Diet

    • Mexican wolves primarily feed on ungulates, large hoofed animals. Their diet includes mule deer, elk and white-tailed deer. Mexican wolves also consume smaller mammals, such as rabbits, ground squirrels, mice and javelinas, or wild pigs. According to the U.S. Fish &Wildlife website, they consume a minimal amount of livestock, which only makes up four percent of their overall diet. Mexican wolves hunt as a pack, working together to take down large prey. Sometimes they only eat a couple times a week, consuming up to 20 pounds of meat at a time.

    Habitat &Range

    • Raised in captivity

      The endemic habitat of the Mexican wolf includes New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. In these areas they prefer to live within woodlands, grasslands, shrublands and mountainous forests. Their habitat and survival was threatened beginning with early settlers in the 1900s, and they became virtually extinct in the wild due to state, private and federal extermination campaigns. Due to captive breeding and reintroduction efforts, small populations of Mexican wolves currently live in the Apache National Forest in southeastern Arizona.

    Population Threats

    • Mexican gray wolf striving to survive in the wild

      The population of Mexican wolves is struggling, despite efforts to reintroduce them into their natural habitat and protect them. The biggest threats to Mexican wolves are habitat destruction and humans. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the primary reasons for their premature deaths are vehicle collisions and gunshot wounds.

    Ecological Impact

    • The Mexican gray wolf is vital to the balance of nature. According to the Western Watersheds Project, the Mexican wolf helps keep deer and elk herds healthy by hunting the weakest members of the pack. They also keep the herbivore population in balance. Mexican wolves are an important predator, and without them the overall ecological health of their habitat is threatened.