Wolf

Perhaps no animal is more misunderstood or mythologized than the wolf. By most accounts there are three species in North America, the wide ranging gray wolf (which can be gray, black, or white), the Mexican wolf (native to Mexico and the southwest United States), and the red wolf (native to the southeast United States). The latter two are very rare while the gray wolf is common in Canada, Alaska, Minnesota, and a few other states.

Wolves are loved or hated by people for a whole bunch of reasons, but not always appreciated for their most important trait. They are ecosystem stewards, and by some definitions, a keystone species. They reduce ungulate populations, they take weak and injured animals, leave carrion for others, influence prey movements, and have impacts on other predators such as coyotes. Wolves (or the loss of wolves) can create ripple effects throughout ecosystems in what scientists call a “trophic cascade” as the abundance of wolves effects the abundance of ungulates which then affects the abundance and diversity of plant life and so on.