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1.Grey Wolf: The gray wolf is the largest member of the Canidae family and an ice age survivor originating during the Late Pleistocene around 300,000 years.In general, height varies from 0.6 to .95 meters (26–38 inches) at the shoulder and weight ranges from 20 (44 lb.) up to 68 (150 lb.) kilograms.Fur coloration varies greatly, running from gray to gray-brown, all the way through the canine spectrum of white, red, brown, and black.
Wolves feed primarily on medium to large sized ungulates, including sheep, goats, chamois, pigs, deer, antelope, caribou, horses, moose, yaks, and bison. Other recorded large prey include marine mammals such as seals and beached whales,Solitary wolves depend more on smaller animals, which they capture by pouncing and pinning with their front paws, though lone wolves have been recorded to bring down prey as large as bison unaided.Some wolf packs in Alaska and Western Canada have been observed to feed on salmon.They also prey on rodents, game birds, and other small animals.The wolf has 39 subspecies currently described, including two subspecies of domestic dog,the dingo and the dog.
2.Coyote: Unlike its cousin the grey wolf, which is both North American and Eurasian in origin, the coyote evolved in North America 2 MYA alongside the Dire Wolf. It is thought by certain experts that the coyotes North American origin may account for its greater adaptability than the wolf, due to North America's greater prehistoric predation pressures.The color of the coyote's pelt varies from grayish brown to yellowish gray on the upper parts, while the throat and belly tend to have a buff or white color. The forelegs, sides of the head, muzzle and feet are reddish brown. The back has tawn-colored underfur and long, black-tipped guard hairs that form a black dorsal stripe and a dark cross on the shoulder area.Though coyotes have been observed to travel in large groups, they primarily hunt in pairs. Typical packs consist of six closely related adults, yearlings and young.the coyote is one of the few medium-to-large-sized animals that has enlarged its range since human encroachment began. It originally ranged primarily in the western half of North America, but it has adapted readily to the changes caused by human occupation and, since the early 19th century, has been steadily and dramatically extending its range.Sightings now commonly occur in California, Oregon, New England, New Jersey, and eastern Canada. Coyotes have been seen in nearly every continental U.S. state, including Alaska.
3.Red Wolf: It once roamed throughout the Southeastern United States and is an ice age survivor of the Late Pleistocene epoch.The Red Wolf has a reddish coat, silver-grey forehead and darker signs on white legs and a cream underbelly. The Red Wolf has long ears and smooth coat with long legs. It lives through the south-eastern parts of the United States, from Texas to Florida. A population is being reintroduced to North Carolina.Scientists suggest that Red Wolf populations were extirpated from the wild in the southeastern United States and is now very endangered and slowly being reintroduced to its natural habitat.The origins of the Red Wolf line are set at 1-2 Mya with a branching from a common ancestor of the Gray Wolf (Canis lupus),the eastern North American wolves, and the Coyote (Canis latrans).Long-term analysis of mtDNA confirmed independence of the original Red Wolf from the Coyote or Gray Wolf populations in the eastern part of North America and isolated two distinct populations: one is known as the Red Wolf and the other as the Eastern Wolf.
4.Dire Wolf:an extinct prehistoric relative of the Grey Wolf and was most common in North America and South America during the Pleistocene. Although it was closely related to the Gray Wolf, it was not the direct ancestor of any species known today.The dire wolf was slightly larger than the grey wolf, averaging about 1.5 metres (5 ft) in length and weighing about 57-79 kilograms (125-175 lb).Despite superficial similarities to the grey wolf, there were significant differences between the two species. The legs of the dire wolf were proportionally shorter and sturdier than those of the grey wolf.The dire wolf's teeth were similar to the grey wolf's, only slightly larger. Many paleontologists have proposed that the dire wolf may have used its relatively large teeth to crush bone, an idea that is supported by the frequency of large amounts of wear on the crowns of their fossilized teeth. By 10,000 years ago,Dire Wolf were extinct(likely due to the exinction of the large mammals it preyed on),although some fossils found in Arkansas suggest that they may have lived as a relict population in the Ozark mountains as recently as 4,000 years ago.
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sign by saske italian wolf
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