The Critically Endangered Mexican Wolf​

The Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi), also known as 'el lobo' is Spanish, is critically endangered and a part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan (AZA SSP) which was initiated in 1981. The Mexican wolf, which is a subspecies of the gray wolf, weighs 50-80 lbs and stand approximately 2 feet tall. Their diet consists of ungulates like elk, mule deer, and white-tailed deer. They also eat small rodents such as rabbits and javelinas.​ Mexican wolves function in social structures that include breeding males and females and their offspring.

 

Mexican wolves mate from mid-February to mid-March and gestation lasts for 63 days. The breeding pair will care for their offspring until they reach sexual maturity at about 10 months of age.​ Mexican wolves once ranged throughout the southwestern regions of the U.S. including Colorado, Utah, and southwestern Texas. Today, Mexican wolves are exclusively found in southwest New Mexico; the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area; and the Fort Apache Reservation in Arizona. Outside of North America, Mexican wolves can also be found in a small pocket of northern Mexico. Approximately 286 Mexican wolves remain in the wild.