Mexican Wolf

Mexican wolves are carnivores and primarily prey on large, hoofed animals (called “ungulates”) like whitetail deer, pronghorn, and elk. Wolves typically hunt in packs for bigger prey, but individual wolves may catch smaller animals like beavers and rabbits. They use everything from their catch, including the hair and bones, and sometimes scavenge off kills made by others.

On average, wolves eat about 10 pounds of meat per day. However, they don’t eat every day; instead, they have a “feast or famine” routine where they might go a few days without eating and then feast on more than 20 pounds of meat after a kill.

At the Zoo, Mexican wolves receive a specialized ground carnivore diet. They also receive large bones on their fasting days, to mimic the natural diet schedule in the wild. As enrichment, the Mexican wolves receive what Animal Care staff affectionately refer to as a ‘farcass’ (fake carcass), which can be made up of meat, bone, antlers, and fur frozen into an ice mold that resembles part of a carcass. This enrichment is presented in a way that elicits the natural feeding behaviors of wolves.

Historically, Mexican wolves were found throughout southwestern Texas, southern New Mexico, southeastern Arizona, and as far south as central Mexico. Today, reintroduced wolves are limited to the Gila Headwaters ecosystem in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico.

Mexican wolves are found in a variety of southwestern habitats. They prefer mountain woodlands to low deserts due to access to cover, water, and available prey.

Wolves are apex predators, meaning they are generally at the top of the food web.

Historically, they faced major threats from targeted hunting due to their predation on livestock. Although human conflicts are still a problem, the biggest threats to wolves are the loss of their habitats and the fragmentation, or breaking up, of their population.

Mexican wolves have coats that are buff, gray, and rust-colored, and they often have unique patterns on their faces. They have big heads with long, thick snouts. These wolves are good hunters because they have very strong jaws and special teeth that help them catch their prey. They can break tough bones with just a few bites. Their large nasal cavity gives them an excellent sense of smell. Mexican wolves also have great hearing and binocular vision, which helps them hunt effectively. With their long legs and big paws that have non-retractable claws, they are very agile and fast.

Female gray wolves carefully choose their mates and often stay with them for life. After mating, the female digs a den where she will raise her pups. This den is usually built in a safe spot, with an entrance that goes down and then up to help keep it dry and avoid flooding. Within a wolf's territory, there may be several dens, and they often go back to the same ones year after year.

The gestation period, or the time the female carries the pups, lasts a little over two months. Usually, five to seven pups are born in the den. The pups stay inside the den for about five weeks, exploring just outside the entrance as they grow. Around five to nine weeks old, they start to wean off their mother’s milk and eat solid food. Other members of the pack help take care of the pups, often bringing back food by regurgitating meat to feed them. Wolf pups grow quickly because they need to be strong enough to hunt with the pack when winter arrives. By about ten months old, the young wolves join in the hunting activities with the rest of the pack.

Wolves have a complex way of communicating that includes sounds, scents, and body language. Their vocalizations can be grouped into four main types: barking, whimpering, growling, and howling.

Barking is often used as a warning. For example, a mother wolf might bark at her pups if she senses danger, or a bark-howl can signal aggression to protect the pack or territory. Whimpering may indicate a mother’s readiness to nurse her pups or show submission. Growling serves as a warning to others. Howling is unique because it allows wolves to communicate over long distances. A defensive howl helps keep the pack together and wards off strangers, especially when protecting young pups or food sources. Wolves can hear howls from up to 10 miles away!

Wolves also have an excellent sense of smell, enabling them to gather a lot of information from scents. They mark their territories with urine and scat, which can last a long time and send messages to other wolves. They have scent glands that release pheromones, which are chemical signals used among pack members.

Body language is another key way in which wolves communicate. Dominant wolves raise their tails high and stand tall, while less dominant wolves show submission by lowering their tails and crouching. An angry wolf may stick its ears up and bare its teeth, while a suspicious one pulls its ears back and squints. Fear is indicated by flattening the ears against the head. When a wolf wants to play, it dances and bows, similar to how dogs do.

Wolves are social animals that live in groups called packs. A pack can have anywhere from 2 to 36 wolves, but most packs are made up of about five to nine wolves. Packs usually consist of a breeding pair (the mother and father) and their offspring, which can include young wolves from previous years. Sometimes, unrelated wolves also join a pack.

A wolf pack is very organized. The leaders of the pack are the breeding pair—the strongest and oldest wolves, who are usually the parents of the other pack members. They are the dominant pair and are typically the only ones in the pack that have pups. Other wolves can become the dominant male or female by finding a territory that no one else occupies and mating with someone of the opposite sex. Sometimes they might join a pack that needs a new leader or take control by removing another dominant wolf. The dominant pair is responsible for guiding and overseeing the pack.