Talk:Arctic wolf

conservation status
Does not reflect the published literature. Needs expansion and citations. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.61.169.46 (talk) 05:54, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

They give birth in about 63 days.
I'm assuming this means the gestation period is about 63 days, not that the wolf is in labor for 63 days. I'm not channging it because it could mean something else. I'm not changing it because 63 days seems like an awfully short gestation period. then again, I'm no biologist. 24.166.61.235 19:48, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

I, too, thought that sounded like a very short gestation period. But after trawling the literature it looks to be accurate. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.61.182.221 (talk) 01:56, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

Behaviors section
This really needs some sources. "...is able to withstand sub-zero temperatures for years." but where because anywhere the wolf ranges the temperature will rise above freezing during some part of the year. "...survive up to five months of absolute darkness a year,..." again where? The wolf lives mainly on land and is not usually found at the North Pole due lack of food. Only the area around the North Pole will have absolute darkness for that long, even the most northerly parts of Greenland will only have 31/2 months of absolute darkness. Do they nudes hunt in packs of two? I would think that getting caribou and muskox would require a larger pack but perhaps they can survive on smaller prey. "...if the layer of ice is too thick...", I don't think they den on the ice but on land. Maybe this should be permafrost? Enter CambridgeBayWeather, waits for audience a, not a sausage 11:47, 10 december 25

Adding Photos
This article could benefit with the addition of some more photos. This could help clear up the colour issue about the pups. I took several pictures of Arctic wolves when I was stationed in Alert. One of my favorites is the pup at the top of the stairs and the one of it's mother at the bottom of the stairs. My time there was very educational I saw how curious these creatures are in a Quasi domesticated setting. Once I caught one of the larger adult females of the pack nestled under a pile of parkas in our warehouse break room.

CelticKraken (talk) 06:53, 9 February 2013 (UTC)
 * That would be great. Just upload them at Commons. Just login here then go to Commons and you should be still in the same account. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 22:36, 9 February 2013 (UTC)

Greenland wolf?
This article is confused regarding the Arctic wolf C. l. arctos and the Greenland wolf C. l. orion. The article states: "The Arctic wolf (Canis lupus arctos), also known as the Melville Island wolf, is a subspecies of gray wolf native to the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, from Melville Island to Ellesmere Island." Greenland is not included. William Harris •  (talk) •  09:57, 17 February 2018 (UTC)


 * Confusion now removed, with text relocated among two clearly separate articles. William Harris •   (talk) •  09:26, 20 February 2018 (UTC)

Endangered Species
I want to add a section about the endangered status of the Arctic Wolf. Although the ESA does not list this species as endangered, that appears to be because they have not accepted its status as a legitimate subspecies. A subsequent, commissioned peer-review (NCAES) found significant errors in the report which the ESA based its analysis on. As of 2005 MSW3 considers this wolf to be a legitimate subspecies, and the NCAES report concluded that ESA's information, as described here and referenced below: "The Arctic wolf was first described as a distinct subspecies by British zoologist Reginald Pocock in 1935, after having examined a single skull from Melville Island.[3] As of 2005,[7] the Arctic wolf is still recognized as a distinct subspecies by MSW3. However, studies undertaken on Arctic wolf autosomal microsatellite DNA and mtDNA data indicate that the Arctic wolf has no unique haplotypes, thus indicating that its colonization of the Arctic Archipelago from the North American mainland was relatively recent, and thus not sufficient to warrant subspecies status.[8] However, the research of Chambers et al. (2012) that dismissed the Arctic wolf's genetic integrity became controversial, forcing the USF&WS to commission a peer review of it, known as NCAES (2014).[9] This peer review highlighted numerous flaws in the research such as the erroneous merging of the coastal BC island wolves with the inland Canis lupus nubilus as well as suggesting that gray wolves never lived in the eastern third of the US, etc, and thus concluded unanimously that the Chambers' review "is not accepted as consensus scientific opinion or best available science"."

References: http://eol.org/pages/1268605/details#conservation_status and https://endangeredspeciesbiomesprojects.wikispaces.com/Arctic+Wolf Also, for those interested, the primary source: https://www.fws.gov/home/wolfrecovery/pdf/Final_Review_of_Proposed_rule_regarding_wolves2014.pdf — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.61.182.221 (talk) 03:00, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

^Also a huge thank you to whoever fixed up this submission for me. Kudos! If anyone else would be so kind as to update the actual Wikipedia article. Last time I tried editing an article I ended up being threatened with a ban...So I'm a little bit afraid to do the actual main page submission :?