There are 38 subspecies of Canis lupus listed in the taxonomic authority Mammal Species of the World. These subspecies were named over the past 250 years, and since their naming, a number of them have gone extinct. The nominate subspecies is the Eurasian wolf.
The red wolf is a canine native to the southeastern United States. Its size is intermediate between the coyote and gray wolf.
The eastern wolf, also known as the timber wolf, Algonquin wolf and eastern timber wolf, is a canine of debated taxonomy native to the Great Lakes region and southeastern Canada. It is considered to be either a unique subspecies of gray wolf or red wolf or a separate species from both. Many studies have found the eastern wolf to be the product of ancient and recent genetic admixture between the gray wolf and the coyote, while other studies have found some or all populations of the eastern wolf, as well as coyotes, originally separated from a common ancestor with the wolf over 1 million years ago and that these populations of the eastern wolf may be the same species as or a closely related species to the red wolf of the Southeastern United States. Regardless of its status, it is regarded as unique and therefore worthy of conservation with Canada citing the population in eastern Canada as being the eastern wolf population subject to protection.
The Arctic wolf, also known as the white wolf, polar wolf, and the Arctic grey wolf, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to the High Arctic tundra of Canada's Queen Elizabeth Islands, from Melville Island to Ellesmere Island. Unlike some populations that move between tundra and forest regions, Arctic wolves spend their entire lives north of the northern treeline. Their distribution to south is limited to the northern fringes of the Middle Arctic tundra on the southern half of Prince of Wales and Somerset Islands. It is a medium-sized subspecies, distinguished from the northwestern wolf by its smaller size, its whiter colouration, its narrower braincase, and larger carnassials. Since 1930, there has been a progressive reduction in size in Arctic wolf skulls, which is likely the result of wolf-dog hybridization.
A coywolf is a canid hybrid descended from coyotes, eastern wolves, gray wolves, and dogs. All of these species are members of the genus Canis with 78 chromosomes; they therefore can interbreed. One genetic study indicates that these species genetically diverged relatively recently. Genomic studies indicate that nearly all North American gray wolf populations possess some degree of admixture with coyotes following a geographic cline, with the lowest levels occurring in Alaska, and the highest in Ontario and Quebec, as well as Atlantic Canada. Another term for these hybrids is sometimes wolfote.
Canid hybrids are the result of interbreeding between the species of the subfamily Caninae.
The Arabian wolf is a subspecies of gray wolf native to the Arabian Peninsula—to the west of Bahrain, as well as Oman, southern Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. It is also found in Israel’s Negev and Arava Deserts, Jordan, Palestine, and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. It is the smallest gray wolf subspecies and a specialized xerocole (arid-adapted) animal that normally lives in smaller familial packs. Arabian wolves are omnivorous and opportunistic eaters; they consume small to medium-sized prey, from insects, reptiles and birds to rodents and small ungulates, such as young Nubian ibex and several species of gazelle.
The Iberian wolf, is a subspecies of grey wolf. It inhabits the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, which includes northwestern Spain and northern Portugal. It is home to 2,200-2,700 wolves which have been isolated from mixing with other wolf populations for over a century. They form the largest wolf population in Western Europe.
The Japanese wolf, also known as the Honshū wolf, is an extinct subspecies of the gray wolf that was once endemic to the islands of Honshū, Shikoku and Kyūshū in the Japanese archipelago.
The Himalayan wolf is a canine of debated taxonomy. It is distinguished by its genetic markers, with mitochondrial DNA indicating that it is genetically basal to the Holarctic grey wolf, genetically the same wolf as the Tibetan and Mongolian wolf, and has an association with the African wolf. No striking morphological differences are seen between the wolves from the Himalayas and those from Tibet. The Himalayan wolf lineage can be found living in Ladakh in the Himalayas, the Tibetan Plateau, and the mountains of Central Asia predominantly above 4,000 m (13,000 ft) in elevation because it has adapted to a low-oxygen environment, compared with other wolves that are found only at lower elevations.
The Newfoundland wolf was a subspecies of grey wolf that was native to Newfoundland. As a food source, the species would prey and rely on the Newfoundland caribou. During the autumn and early winter, some wolves would turn white while others remained dark enough to look black.
The Vancouver Island wolf, also known as the coastal wolf or sea wolf is a subspecies of grey wolf, endemic to the coast of the Pacific Northwest. They are a unique subspecies of wolf due to their semi-aquatic lifestyle, which includes a diet that is almost entirely marine-based.
The Kenai Peninsula wolf, also known as the Kenai Peninsula grey wolf, is an extinct subspecies of the gray wolf that lived on the Kenai Peninsula in southern Alaska.
The Cascade mountain wolf is an extinct subspecies of the gray wolf that was once found in the Pacific Northwest, but became extinct in 1940.
Gregory's wolf, also known as the Mississippi Valley wolf, was a hybrid canine subspecies of the red wolf. It was declared extinct in 1980. It once roamed the regions in and around the lower Mississippi River basin. This hybridization has been a subject of research due to its implications for both conservation efforts and the genetic makeup of wild wolf populations. It is believed that these hybrids originated due to the overlap of territories between wild wolves and feral or free-ranging domestic dogs, particularly in rural and forested regions where human influence on the landscape is significant.
The Mackenzie River wolf or Mackenzie Arctic Wolf is a subspecies of gray wolf which is found in Canada's southern portion of Northwest Territories. Not much has been published on Canis lupus mackenzii but one of the most comprehensive studies was done in 1954 by W.A. Fuller, Wolf Control Operations, Southern Mackenzie District, Canada Wildlife Service Report. This wolf is recognized as a subspecies of Canis lupus in the taxonomic authority Mammal Species of the World (2005).
The eastern coyote is a wild North American canine hybrid with both coyote and wolf parentage. The hybridization likely first occurred in the Great Lakes region, as western coyotes moved east. It was first noticed during the early 1930s to the late 1940s, and likely originated in the aftermath of the extirpation of the gray wolf and eastern wolf in southeastern Ontario, Labrador and Quebec, thus allowing coyotes to colonize the former wolf ranges, and mix with the remnant wolf populations. This hybrid is smaller than the eastern wolf and holds smaller territories, but is larger and holds more extensive home ranges than the typical western coyote.
Canis mosbachensis is an extinct wolf that inhabited Europe from the late Early Pleistocene to the Middle Pleistocene, around 1.4 million to 400,000 years ago. Canis mosbachensis is widely considered to have descended from the earlier Canis etruscus, and to be the ancestor of the living grey wolf with some considering it as a subspecies of the wolf as Canis lupus mosbachensis. The morphological distinction between C. mosbachensis and C. lupus has historically been vague, and attribution of fossils to C. mosbachensis or to C. lupus around the transition time between the two species is ambiguous.
Caribou herds in Canada are discrete populations of seven subspecies that are represented in Canada. Caribou can be found from the High Arctic region south to the boreal forest and Rocky Mountains and from the east to the west coasts.
