Part 20

Mech, L. D. 1966. Hunting behavior of wolves in Minnesota. J. Mammal. 47: 347-348.

Mech, L. D. 1970. The wolf: the ecology and behavior of an endangered species. 389 p. New York: Natural History Press, Doubleday.

Nasimovich, A. A. 1955. The role of the regime of snow cover in the life of ungulates in the U.S.S.R. Moskva, Akademiya Nauk SSSR. 403 p.

Pimlott, D. H., Shannon, J. A., and Kolenosky, G. B. 1969. The ecology of the timber wolf in Algonquin Provincial Park. Out. Dep. Lands and Forests Res. Rep. (Wildl.) 87, 92 p.

Rutter, R. J., and Pimlott, D. H. 1968. The world of the wolf. 202 p. Philadelphia and New York: J. B. Lippincott Co.

Stenlund, M. H. 1955. A field study of the timber wolf (Canis lupus) on the Superior National Forest, Minnesota. Minn. Conserv. Dep. Tech. Bull. 4, 55 p.

Verme, L. J. 1968. An index of winter severity for northern deer. J. Wildl. Manage. 32: 566-574.

THE POSSIBLE OCCURRENCE OF THE GREAT PLAINS WOLF IN NORTHEASTERN MINNESOTA

L. David Mech and L. D. Frenzel, Jr.

The timber wolf (Canis lupus) of northeastern Minnesota occupies an area within the range given by Goldman (1944) for the eastern timber wolf (C. l. lycaon Schreber). However, this area is within 150 miles of the eastern edge of the former range of the Great Plains wolf (C. l. nubilus Say), and there is some question as to whether the Minnesota wolf is really an intergrade between these two subspecies. Writing of nubilus, Goldman (1944, p. 444) stated: "Specimens from eastern Minnesota and Michigan seem more properly referable to lycaon, but relationship to nubilus is shown in somewhat intermediate characters."

In describing lycaon as basically a gray wolf, Goldman made no mention of the occurrence of black or white color phases in that subspecies. However, in discussing nubilus, Goldman (1944, p. 442) wrote the following: "Many color variations are presented. Individuals may be nearly white at any season, except for a sprinkling of black hairs over the back, a small, narrow, but conspicuous, black patch over the tail gland, and a more or less distinctly black tip. Black individuals may occur in the same litter with those normally colored." Goldman also referred to nubilus as "now probably extinct."

In the eastern part of the range of lycaon, color phases other than gray appear to be rare as Rutter and Pimlott (1969, p. 188) attest: "The uniformity of the color of timber wolves in many areas is evidenced by the work in Algonquin Park, in Ontario. There, over the past eight years, dozens of packs have been observed from the air. However, we have never been able to discriminate between any of them on the basis of the color variation of individual animals."

Thus it seems significant to report on incidences of black and white color phases in wolves that we have observed in northeastern Minnesota during some 480 hours of flying associated with wolf research (Mech et al., p. 1). The observations took place in the Superior National Forest, in northern Cook, Lake, and St. Louis Counties during the winters of 1966-67, 1967-68, and 1968-69. A total of 309 sightings were made of wolves that could be classified by color; of these, 11 (3.6 percent) were jet black (fig. 1) and two (0.6 percent) were creamish white, with the cream color the most intense on the back. No doubt some of the grays, and perhaps the blacks and whites, were repeated observations, but the figures should provide a reasonable approximation of the incidence of these color phases in this area. All black or white animals except one were observed with gray wolves (table 1 and fig. 2).

A number of black wolves, and a few white wolves, have been seen by other observers, all in the three counties listed earlier. To gain some idea of the past incidence of these color phases in the same general area, we asked Conservation Officers Robert Hodge, Robert Jacobsen, and Frank Baltich of the Ely, Minnesota, area about the numbers of each phase that they took before 1960. They reported killing an approximate total of 580 wolves, of which four were black and three were white or creamish white.

Table 1.--Observations of wolves of black and white color phases

+--------------+-------------------------+--------------------------+ | Date | Location | Color combinations | | | | within each pack | +--------------+-------------------------+--------------------------+ |Feb. 24, 1967 T64N-R8W-S1 Vera Lake 3 grays; 1 black; 1 white| |Mar. 4, 1967 T63N-R9W-S27 Lake Two 3 grays; 2 blacks | |Dec. 18, 1968 T63N-R8W-S35 Lake Insula 2 grays; 2 blacks | |Jan. 17, 1969 T65N-R8W-S27 Carp Lake 1 gray; 1 white | |Feb. 1, 1969 T63N-R8W-S13 Lake Insula 4 blacks; 2 grays | |Feb. 5, 1969 T63N-R8W-S8 Benezie Lake 1 black | |Feb. 6, 1969 T63N-R10W-S33 Clear Lake 3 grays; 1 black | +--------------+-------------------------+--------------------------+ FOOTNOTES:

These animals were near the shore of the lake, so others may have been inland where they could not be seen.

This group might well have been the same as that seen on Dec. 18, 1968.

Because black and white color phases have rarely if ever been reported for lycaon, yet were well known for nubilus, it is not unreasonable to conclude that the race of wolves now occupying northeastern Minnesota does show strong nubilus influence. Goldman examined the skulls only of 10 Minnesota specimens assignable to lycaon and only one referable to nubilus. Because wolves in the known range of nubilus are thought to be extinct, and because the animals in northeastern Minnesota are legally unprotected and subject to a control program, it seems highly desirable that the question of their taxonomy be studied intensively while specimens are still available.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was supported by Macalester College, the New York Zoological Society, the Minnesota Department of Conservation, the U.S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, and the USDA Forest Service. Mr. Wallace C. Dayton and Miss Elizabeth Dayton, and the Quetico-Superior Foundation, all of Minneapolis, financed Mech during the preparation of this paper. We would also like to thank Dr. J. L. Paradiso, Dr. H. L. Gunderson, and Mr. M. H. Stenlund for reviewing this manuscript.

LITERATURE CITED

Goldman, E. A. 1944. The wolves of North America, Part II. Classification of Wolves. p. 389-636. Washington, D.C.: The Amer. Wildl. Inst.

Pimlott, D. H., Shannon, J. A., and Kolenosky, G. B. 1969. The ecology of the timber wolf in Algonquin Provincial Park. Ont. Dep. Lands and Forests Res. Pap. (Wildl.) 87, 94 p.

SOME RECENT RESEARCH PAPERS OF THE NORTH CENTRAL FOREST EXPERIMENT STATION

Tree Improvement Opportunities in the North-Central States Related to Economic Trends, A Problem Analysis, by David H. Dawson and John A. Pitcher. USDA Forest Serv. Res. Pap. NC-40, 30 p., illus. 1970.

Relation Between the National Fire Danger Spread Component and Fire Activity in the Lake States, by Donald A. Haines, William A. Main, and Von J. Johnson. USDA Forest Serv. Res. Pap. NC-41, 8 p., illus. 1970.

Thinning and Fertilizing Red Pine to Increase Growth and Cone Production, by John H. Cooley. USDA Forest Serv. Res. Pap. NC-42, 8 p., illus. 1970.