Tuesday, 22 July 2014

Wildlife

First Litter of Wild Wolf Pups Born in Mexico

For the first time in more than 30 years, a litter of wolf pups was born in the wild in Mexico, wildlife authorities announced last week.

The Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi), also known as the lobo, went extinct in the wild about three decades ago. But in recent years, breeding pairs of the species have been raised in captivity and reintroduced into the mountains of western Mexico as part of a national conservation effort.

An expedition to the area in June verified that there were five wolf pups in good health.

The birth of the first wild litter is an "important step in the reintroduction program" and it expands the possibilities of the species' recovery in Mexico.

Mexican wolves were also pushed to the brink of extinction in the southwestern United States by the 1970s, but they've been reintroduced in New Mexico and Arizona. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) reported that they had counted at least 83 Mexican wolves in the experimental population in those two states by the end of 2013. FWS officials documented five breeding couples and 17 newborn pups among the 14 known packs in the region.

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