Figure 2.—A pack of four blacks with two grays (first and third). (Photo courtesy of John Winship.)
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.