The tundra wolf (Canis lupus albus), also known as the Turukhan wolf, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to northern Eurasia.
Taxonomy It was first classified in 1792 by Robert Kerr based on a description by Gerhard Friedrich Müller, describing it as a "white wolf" with a highly valued pelt living around the Yenisei. Reginald Innes Pocock provisionally supported the continued distinction of the tundra wolf in 1935 after examining a single mounted skin from Minusinsk held in the British Museum.
Ronald Nowak recognised the tundra wolf as a distinct subspecies in 1995 on the basis of morphometric measurements of skulls from northwestern Siberia, noting that it showed greater affinity to North American Arctic wolves than to other Eurasian wolf subspecies.
Current recognition of this subspecies' distinctiveness hinges entirely on morphometric skull measurements, with a 2022 taxonomic study finding no further supporting evidence for its validity.
Description It is a large subspecies, with adult males measuring in body length, and females . Average weight is for males and for females. The highest weight recorded among 500 wolves caught in the Taymyr Peninsula and the Kanin Peninsula during 1951-1961 was from an old male killed on the Taymyr at the north of the Dudypta River weighing . Vladimir Geptner described the subspecies as smaller than C. l. lupus, while described it as larger on average, being surpassed in size only by the North American C. l. occidentalis.
The fur is very long, dense, fluffy, and soft, and is usually light grey in colour. The lower fur is lead-grey and the upper fur is reddish-grey. Black guard hairs form a fairly broad stripe along the ridge of the back. It is paler than C. l. lupus, but slightly darker than C. l. arctos.
Range and ecology The tundra wolf occurs throughout the tundra and forest-tundra regions of Eurasia, from the Kamchatka Peninsula westward to northern Europe. L. David Mech places the tundra wolf's westernmost occurrence at Finland, while Vladimir Geptner placed it at "perhaps in the extreme north of the Scandinavian Peninsula". The IUCN's Wolf Specialist Group, however, places the tundra wolf's range as "northern Russia", not listing it among the subspecies present in Scandinavian countries. noted that the southern boundary of the tundra wolf's range is difficult to determine, as it overlaps extensively with the northern range of C. l. lupus.
The tundra wolf generally rests in river valleys, thickets and forest clearings. In winter it feeds almost exclusively on female or young wild and domestic reindeer: 93.1% of the stomach contents of 74 wolves caught in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug in the 1950s during the winter and spring months were found to consist of reindeer remains. Nevertheless, hares, arctic foxes and other animals are sometimes targeted. In the summer, tundra wolves feed extensively on birds and small rodents, as well as newborn reindeer calves.
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