The Eastern Wolf, Eastern Canadian Wolf , Eastern Timber Wolf or Algonquin Wolf (Canis lupus lycaon) or, according to some taxonomists Canis lycaon is a mammal of the Canidae family.
The Eastern Wolf has typically been considered a subspecies of Canis Lupus (Grey Wolf). However recent genetic research suggests that it may in fact be closely related to or even identical with Canis rufus of the southeast of the US. But there are no really adequate methods of identifying them, because their ability to hybridize.
The Eastern Wolf is smaller than the Grey Wolf. It has a pale greyish-brown pelt. The back and the sides are covered with long black hairs. Behind the ears, there is a slight reddish colour.
In pre-Columbian times, the Eastern Wolf used to roam the forests of Eastern Canada and Eastern USA, down to Florida. Now it is found in the forests of Southern Ontario and Quebec, in the region of the Great Lakes. They live in packs and require rather large tracts of uncleared forest. Through deforestation and hunting, their numbers have declined drastically. There are some 2,000 eastern wolves left in the wild.
Status of the Eastern Wolf (http://www.nrdpfc.ca/files/Report_to_COSEWIC2001.pdf) A PDF document describing recent genetic research suggesting the Eastern Wolf is a close relation of the Red Wolf.
The EasternWolf is conspecific (belonging to the same species) with the Red Wolf (presently recognized as Canis rufus), a species that was extirpated from the wild in the southeastern United States.
Research Habitat: Eastern Wolves are found throughout most of central Ontario and as far east as southern Quebec, as far north and West as Lake Nipigon, and as far south as the southern edge of the Canadian Shield in central Ontario.
The idea that the wolf "population" in Algonquin (as a whole) was at risk of extinction because of human-caused mortality outside the Park assumed that wolves from western Algonquin were leaving the Park during winter, and being killed, at a similar rate as observed in the eastern half of the Park during the 1990s.
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