Wolves

The woodland caribou population in Canada is dwindling and conservationists fear the species’ extinction. But does that justify killing wolves, the animal’s main predator? It’s a question with no easy answers.

Researchers at Cambridge University’s Zoology Department analyzed the sound spectrum of howls from various members of the canid family — from wolves to coyotes to domesticated dogs — to identify their unique signatures and to understand how and why certain species use particular howls.

Once nearly extinct, the gray wolf is now back in the western United States and considered a major success for animal conservation. But reintroducing the gray wolf has been contentious, and the bitter fight over the animal may have given anti-conservationists new political tools.

Red wolves are being reintroduced to the wilds of North Carolina. The animal once ranged throughout the southeast and as far north as Pennsylvania. The effort is hailed as the first successful reintroduction of a predator that had been declared extinct in the wild. But the program has its critics. From Chapel Hill, North Carolina, […]

Three years ago, thirty grey wolves from Canada were released in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho. Many people celebrated the animals’ return into country where sixty years earlier the packs had been eradicated to protect grazing livestock. But some groups, including the Montana Farm Bureau, objected to the recovery effort. And then, a federal […]