14 September 2013 | NewScientist | 11

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Grey wolf’s future depends on which wolf is which

eastern wolf, now in parts of Canada. This conclusion is based on research

led by Paul Wilson at Trent University in Ontario, Canada, who in 2000 argued that wolves in the state’s Algonquin Provincial Park are descendants of the eastern wolf. This species evolved separately from grey wolves, he says (Canadian Journal of Zoology, doi.org/fcwf65).

This has since been widely questioned. In 2011, Robert Wayne of the University of California, Los Angeles, led a study of genetic relationships between dogs, wolves and coyotes. It concluded that the “eastern wolf” is the product of an ancient hybridisation between grey wolves and coyotes (Genome Research, doi.org/ccz92z).

With 15 other biologists, Wayne has lodged a criticism of the science behind the proposal. Even Wilson believes the FWS has gone too far in suggesting that grey and eastern wolves never coexisted in the north-east US. “I just don’t think we have any evidence that would exclude the grey wolf from that area,” he says.

“This is not a settled issue,” responds Gary Frazer of the FWS. “The FWS still needed, though, to try and make sense of the best available scientific information.” Peter Aldhous n

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IT’S enough to make conservationists howl. The existence, or not, of the eastern wolf as a distinct species has become a battleground in the fight to restore the iconic grey wolf to greater swathes of the US.

What was an obscure taxonomic debate has become a major row, as the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) tries to justify plans to remove endangered species status from the grey wolf.

Wolves once roamed most of the US, but were nearly eradicated last century by hunters. Today there are about 5000 grey wolves in the contiguous US, almost all in the northern Rocky mountains and western Great Lakes regions – thanks chiefly to the protection afforded by its status.

While those populations are recovering, and have already lost endangered status, the FWS proposal would hit hopes of further expansion.

Protection usually remains until a species recovers across most of its old range. Citing a review by its scientists, the FWS argues that the grey wolf never occupied much of the eastern US, so no protection is needed there (North American Fauna, doi.org/np6). It says that area was home to the

Protected for now, but perhaps not for much longer

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