Wolves

A young male in Lassen County, California, wears a collar that transmits his location. He was in a litter of four pups born in the area in 2019.

The Wolf That Discovered California

Nearly a century after the last wolf was eradicated in the state, a lone female arrived and established a pack. Not everyone is cheering

All dogs with the genetic signature A2b descended from the same Siberian canines roughly 23,000 years ago

How Dogs Migrated to America From Ice Age Siberia 15,000 Years Ago

Northern Siberians and ancestral native Americans may have traded pups at the time

A mountain lion kitten grabs onto its mother’s hind legs.

How Wolves Are Driving Down Mountain Lion Populations

A recent study from Wyoming shows that when the two predators overlap, wolves kill kittens in high numbers and push adults to starvation

An artist's illustration of two gray wolves (lower left) vying with a pack of dire wolves for a bison carcass near the tar pits in Rancho La Brea roughly 15,000 years ago.

Dire Wolves Weren't Actually Wolves, DNA Analysis Reveals

Ancient DNA extracted from fossils shows the beast split off from Canis lupus and coyotes nearly 6 million years ago

There have been other ancient wolf remains found in places like Siberia, but finding a well-preserved specimen in Yukon is rare since the ground has to be permanently frozen and the animal must be buried quickly.

A 57,000-Year-Old Mummified Wolf Pup Was Discovered Frozen in Yukon Permafrost

The specimen sheds light on how different gray wolf populations migrated through North America

Gray wolves in Montana

These Non-Lethal Methods Encouraged by Science Can Keep Wolves From Killing Livestock

Experts say old, repurposed techniques and new technologies may be better than bullets at curbing attacks by the predators

A new study finds beaver-eating wolves alter the landscape in Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota by changing the number and distribution of beaver ponds.

Minnesota Wolves Are Eating Beavers and Reshaping Wetlands

A new study finds that when a wolf kills a beaver its abandoned dam falls apart and goes unoccupied for more than a year

A wolf-like robot dubbed "Monster Wolf" photographed in 2017. An updated model was recently installed in the town of Takikawa on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido. The robot's motion sensor triggers flashing red LED eyes and a selection of 60 sounds aimed to frighten animals back into the wild.

Robotic 'Monster Wolf' Protects Japanese Town From Bears

No bear interactions have been recorded in the town since the robots' installation in September

The first gray wolves reintroduced to the United States were brought in from Canada in the 1990s.

Colorado Votes to Reintroduce Wolves to the Southern Rocky Mountains

In a historic decision, Colorado voters led the way to bring back the apex predator

A wolf puppy named Flea, among 13 pups tested in a new study. Sadly, Flea does not fetch.

Watch Wolf Puppies Play Fetch

New research suggests canines' love for chasing and returning tossed balls wasn't purely a product of domestication

Wolves Gave Tibetan Mastiffs Their Mountaineering Genes

The big, shaggy dogs of the Himalayas are 50 percent more efficient at transporting hemoglobin than lowland pooches

I can haz Snausage?

Dogs Evolved a Special Muscle That Lets Them Make 'Puppy Dog Eyes'

Wolves don't have the muscle to make that classic wide-eyed gaze, suggesting strong evolutionary pressures were at play in our pooches

The specimen is the first (partial) carcass of an adult Pleistocene steppe wolf—an extinct lineage distinct from modern wolves—ever found

A Perfectly Preserved 32,000-Year-Old Wolf Head Was Found in Siberian Permafrost

Given the head’s state of preservation, researchers are hopeful that they can extract viable DNA and use it to sequence the wolf’s genome

In the high altitudes of the Himalayas, many wolves have developed distinct traits from their gray wolf cousins.

Should the Himalayan Wolf Be Classified as a New Species?

Years of expeditions in the world's tallest mountain range reveal that Himalayan wolves have developed genetic adaptations to living at high altitudes

The Galveston pack carries red wolf DNA previously thought to be lost forever

Pack of Wild Dogs in Texas Carry DNA of Nearly Extinct Red Wolf

Red wolves were declared extinct in the wild in 1980, but a new study suggests the species’ DNA lives on in a pack of Texan canines

How Accurate Is the Theory of Dog Domestication in 'Alpha'?

The "boy and his dog" tale is a piece of prehistoric fiction, but scientists are uncovering the true origins of our incredible relationship with dogs

When it comes to ancient remains, isotope analysis could help scientists separate dogs from wolves.

Dogs and Humans Didn’t Become Best Friends Overnight

First, we feared and ate them, a new isotope analysis reveals

In the 20th century, humans exterminated the gray wolf population of British Columbia’s Vancouver Island, the largest island on the west coast of North America. The animals repopulated the island by the end of the century, and now live side by side with people.

No One’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf—And That’s a Problem

On Vancouver Island, habituation to humans has made wolves aggressive, fearless and more prone to clashes with people

Why Wolves Work Together While Wild Dogs Do Not

Contrary to popular belief, domestication has made dogs less likely to cooperate to get food than wolves

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Wolf Pups Spotted Near Rome for the First Time in Decades

The animals were once hunted to the brink of extinction, but are now recovering

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