Cascade mountain wolf explained

The Cascade mountain wolf (Canis lupus fuscus) is an extinct subspecies of the gray wolf that was once found in the Pacific Northwest (British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington),^[1] but became extinct in 1940.^[1]

Taxonomy

It was originally identified as a separate species by Richardson in 1839^[2] and from other wolves in the area by Edward Goldman in 1945.^[3] It is recognized as a subspecies of Canis lupus in the taxonomic authority Mammal Species of the World (2005).

Description

It was described as a cinnamon-coloured wolf, measuring and weighing .^[4]

Resettlement

Recently another subspecies, the British Columbia wolf (Canis lupus columbianus), has established itself in the Cascade mountain wolf's past territory by following the Cascade Range through Washington and is now west of the Cascade Crest,^[5] expanding across Oregon,^[6] and into northern California to Lassen Peak, where in 2019 the Lassen pack produced 3 pups.^[7]

Notes and References

1. Book: Charles Bergman . Wild Echoes: Encounters With the Most Endangered Animals in North America . 2003 . University of Illinois Press . 978-0-252-07125-6 . 256–.
2. Book: Joshua Ross Ginsberg . David David Whyte Macdonald . Foxes, Wolves, Jackals, and Dogs: An Action Plan for the Conservation of Canids . 1990 . IUCN . 978-2-88032-996-9 . 6–.
3. Book: Barry Lopez . Of Wolves and Men . 2004 . Simon and Schuster . 978-0-7432-4936-2 . 13–.
4. Book: The Encyclopedia of Vanished Species. David Day. Universe Books ltd. 1981. 0-947889-30-2.
5. Web site: Wolf pack living west of Cascade Mountains for first time in decades. 4 April 2019.
6. Web site: ODFW Gray Wolf Population.
7. Web site: California Department of Fish and Wildlife . Wolf Management Update. 9 August 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200809091847/https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=171100.