Zoo Celebrates Wolves

Wolf

El Paso Zoo visitors had a “howling” good time at the El Paso Zoo when the Zoo celebrated National Wolf Awareness Week on Sunday October 15. Volunteers hosted a special exhibit about the wolf where they displayed skulls, a radio collar and paw prints. Children were able to color wolf pictures to take home. A Wolf Howling Contest was held in the afternoon and prizes were given to those making the most authentic howls.

Event organizer, Nancy Bain, told the El Paso Times in a story published on October 14th that the biggest challenge is "convincing people that they are not mean and aggressive, that Little Red Riding Hood lied. Wolves are very shy creatures."

The Zoo currently is home to three female Mexican wolves that were born at the Columbus Zoo. Mexican wolves are critically endangered and are believed to have gone extinct in the wild during the 1980s. Reintroduction efforts are underway in Arizona and New Mexico and a little less than 50 animals are living in the wild.

Mexican Wolf
Canis lupus baileyi
Fact Sheet

Status: Critically Endangered

Distribution: Reintroduction effort underway in Arizona and New Mexico.

Habitat: Oak woodland, pine/oak woodland or pine forest with adjacent grassland within mountainous terrain.

Diet: (Carnivore) deer, elk, javelina, small mammals. At the Zoo – wild canine kibble, chicken, red meat.

Length: Up to 6 feet in length including tail.

Weight: Adults weigh 50-90 lbs (23-41 kg). Females are smaller than males.

Reproduction: Mating takes place in February and March. Gestation is 63 days and litters contain 4-7 pups.

Longevity: An animal’s lifespan depends on their family history, their health and the quality of their habitat.

General Description: Red-yellow or yellow-gray with black patches on back and sides and white on the chest and abdomen.

Behavior: Wolves live in packs, generally consisting of the breeding pair and their offspring from one or more years. Generally only the dominant pair mate and dominance hierarchies may exist for both sexes. Prey that is young, aged or weak make up most of the kills by the pack, thereby helping to keep the ecosystem in balance. Wolves tend to gorge themselves at a kill with large animals consuming about 20 lbs (9 kg) in one feeding, utilizing almost every part of a carcass, including most of the fur and bones. Average consumption is about 5.5 lbs (2.5 kg) daily. Individual wolves may only kill every 18 days. If wild prey is plentiful, wolves do not generally attack domestic livestock. Wolves howl to communicate with pack members and other wolf packs. Communication is also achieved by scent marking and facial and body posturing. Territories are marked with urine and droppings. There are no authenticated records of healthy wild wolves injuring humans in North America.

Did you know? All United States' Mexican wolves are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Wolves raised in captivity are being released in Arizona and New Mexico to repopulate parts of the wolves' historic range. Wolves were hunted almost to extinction because they were a threat to livestock. Mexican wolves are an SSP species and their captive breeding is controlled by the Mexican Wolf Captive Management Committee. There a fewer than 50 Mexican wolves currently living in the wild (October, 2006).

Where can you find them? In zoos and Apache National Forest in eastern Arizona and in the Gila of western New Mexico.

Mexican Wolf Recovery – Meet team members from the US and Mexico
* Mexican Wolf Recovery Team (English)
* Mexican Wolf Recovery Team (Spanish)