Eastern Canadian Wolf Related to Rare Red Wolf

Eastern and Red Wolves are not Descended from Grey Wolves

Nov 2, 2009

While Red Wolves are gone from most of their original range, their blood still runs in the wild wolves of eastern Canada, which are its closest living relatives.

Until genetic studies were done on the wolves of Algonquin Provincial Park in northern Ontario, scientists believed that the park’s wild canines were the common Grey Wolf (Canis lupus), which evolved in Eurasia and came to North America thousands of years ago. So it was a shock when researchers studying wolves in Algonquin discovered that these wolves are actually very closely related to the extremely endangered Red Wolf (Canis rufus) and are not descended from Grey Wolves.

Red Wolves, which once inhabited the eastern United States from New York to Florida, were declared extinct in the wild in 1980, with just a few hundred surviving in captivity. Finding a closely related wild population, especially so far north, was completely unexpected.

The Eastern Canadian Wolf

By 1970, researchers in Algonquin Park realized that the park’s wolves were different from the usual Grey Wolves. Initially, these smaller, reddish wolves were thought to be a subspecies of Grey Wolf, and they were named Canis lupus lycaon.

But when DNA testing became available, it quickly became apparent that this conclusion was incorrect. Algonquin’s wolves were much more special than anyone had guessed.

Geneticists Brad White and Paul Wilson of McMaster University in Hamilton and Trent University in Peterborough soon discovered that it wasn’t just Algonquin’s wolf population that was different. Although populations were small, these rare wolves actually could be found across much of eastern Canada.

In 2000, members of the Algonquin Wolf Advisory Group renamed them the Eastern Canadian Wolf (Canis lycaon).

Relationship Between Red and Eastern Wolves

“New advances in molecular genetics have shown that the wolves of a broad area of southeastern Canada, from north of Quebec City west to Manitoba and Minnesota and including Algonquin Provincial Park, are different from the Grey Wolf (Canis lupus) found in northern Canada,” according to the Algonquin Wolf Advisory Group’s report to the Minister of Natural Resources in 2000.

“The Eastern Canadian Wolf appears to be extremely closely related to the endangered Red Wolf (Canis rufus) of the southern U.S., and is characterized by the ability to hybridize with Coyotes (Canis latrans) and with Grey Wolves (Canis lupus).”

According to a report in the Canadian Journal of Zoology in 2000, about 150,000 to 300,000 years ago, the Red Wolf, the Eastern Canadian Wolf and Coyote evolved into three separate subspecies from a single North American ancestor. Thus they are closely related to each other, with the closest relationship being between the two wolf subspecies. The Grey Wolf, which evolved in Eurasia, is a distant relative, but still able to crossbreed with Red and Eastern Wolves.

Coywolf Hybrids Are a Mix of Coyote and Eastern Wolf

The purest Eastern Wolves are found within Algonquin Park. In the north, there are mixed blood Grey/Eastern wolves. In southern Ontario, Eastern Wolves have been interbreeding with coyotes. That has created a new variety of wild canine: the Eastern Coyote or Coywolf, which has been moving east and has now reached Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

Such hybridization threatens the purity of the Eastern Canadian Wolf subspecies and could affect its future as a distinct subspecies, especially in southern Ontario where coyote numbers are increasing. Unfortunately, coyotes thrive in areas where humans live, while wolves do not. Wolves need suitable habitat with game such as deer and beaver. Coyotes can live almost anywhere they can find food.

The report suggests that one way to control this hybridization of the Eastern Canadian Wolf is to pass laws that protect wolves and wolf habitat and target the reduction of coyotes and coyote hybrids in and around Algonquin Park.

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Ottawa Valley Chapter, has several goals to protect Eastern Wolves. One is to persuade the Ontario government to implement an immediate ban on the killing of Gray and Eastern Wolves in all provincial parks and conservation reserves. For more information on the Eastern Wolf campaign or to get involved, contact John McDonnell at jmcdonnell@cpaws.org or by phone at 613- 232-7297.

Wolves Ontario! also is working to protect these endangered Eastern Wolves. For more details, email info@wolvesontario.org or call 416-599-0152.

Resources:

Algonquin Wolf Advisory Group. “The Wolves of Algonquin Provincial Park”. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, December 2000.

Way, J. G. Suburban Howls: Tracking the Eastern Coyote in Urban Massachusetts. Dog Ear Publishing, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, 2007.

Wilson, P.J, S. Grewal, I.D. Lawford, J.N.M. Heal, A.G. Granacki, D. Pennock, J.B. Theberge, M.T. Theberge, D.R. Voigt, W. Waddell, R.E. Chambers, P.C. Paquet, G. Goulet, D. Cluff, and B.N. White. “DNA profiles of the eastern Canadian wolf and the red wolf provide evidence for a common evolutionary history independent of the gray wolf.” Canadian Journal of Zoology 78: 2156-2166. Published in 2000.

The copyright of the article Eastern Canadian Wolf Related to Rare Red Wolf in Mammals is owned by Terry McNamee. Permission to republish Eastern Canadian Wolf Related to Rare Red Wolf in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.