This work presents the results of studying the molecular characteristics of parasitic tapeworms Echinococcus canadensis. The helminths were discovered during the autopsy of a wolf (Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758) killed by hunters in the Kirov oblast in 2021. A molecular phylogenetic study was performed by analyzing the sequence of a fragment of the first subunit of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase gene (CoxI). It was found that the detected echinococci belong to the G10 genotype of E. canadensis, which is common in wolves in the northern territories of the Holarctic. We discovered four positions at which the substitutions characteristic only of this genotype are revealed. A substitution at one of the positions that is characteristic exclusively for the representatives of the G10 genotype found in Russia and Finland was also discovered.

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in free-ranging wildlife populations in Northeastern Minnesota on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation and Isle Royale National Park.
RESULTS: One hundred twenty nasal samples were collected from white-tailed deer, moose, grey wolves and black bears monitored for conservation efforts during 2022-2023. Samples were tested for viral RNA by RT-qPCR using the CDC N1/N2 primer set. Our data indicate that no wildlife samples were positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA.
CONCLUSIONS: Continued surveillance is therefore crucial to better understand the changing landscape of zoonotic SARS-CoV-2 in the Upper Midwest.

This systematic review of peer reviewed articles on attitudes towards gray wolves (Canis lupus), shows that attitudes are mainly measured either by mean values of attitudes or by proportional differences in attitudes. This may impact on how attitudes are perceived and interpreted across studies and areas. However, independent of method used, we found that people living in areas where wolves always have existed, are more negative towards wolves compared to people living in areas where there are no wolves, or where wolves have recovered after years of absence. People who express fear, or being directly affected by having wolves, such as farmers and hunters, report more negative attitudes compared to other groups of respondents. For wolf conservation we recommend politicians and management authorities to prepare local societies of the different consequences of living in wolf areas. We recommend using dialogues and conflict management methods to minimize the level of conflicts.

Commercial panels of microsatellite (STR) loci are focused on the use of DNA of the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) and are often inapplicable for genotyping the DNA of the gray wolf (Canis lupus lupus). We propose a CPlex test system, including one hexa- and 12 tetranucleotide autosomal STR loci, as well as two sex loci, that is equally efficient in DNA identification of biological samples of the wolf and the dog. Analysis of molecular variance between samples revealed significant differentiation values (FST = 0.0784, p < 0.001), which allows to use the panel to differentiate wolf and dog samples. Population subdivision coefficients (θ-values) were calculated for each of the 13 STR loci of the developed test system. It was shown that the values of the genotype frequency for dogs and wolves, without and with considering the θ-value, differ by three orders of magnitude (for dogs 8.9 × 10-16 and 2.1 × 10-14 and for wolves 1.9 × 10-15 and 4.5 × 10-14, respectively). The use of population subdivision coefficients will allow to identify the most reliable results of an expert identification study and the power of exclusion provided by the STR loci of the CPlex test system makes it possible to achieve a reliable level of evidence in forensic DNA analysis of both wolves and dogs. The test system has been validated for use in forensic identification of the dog and wolf based on biological traces found at crime scenes, as well as for individual identification and establishing biological relationship of animals of these species.

The aim of this study was to molecularly investigate the presence of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) in organ samples from 11 Apennine wolves (Canis lupus italicus) collected in Central Italy. Samples from lung, liver, spleen, kidney, tongue and intestine were investigated by PCRs targeting the following genes: tet(A), tet(B), tet(C), tet(D), tet(E), tet(G), tet(K), tet(L), tet(M), tet(O), tetA(P), tet(Q), tet(S), tet(X), sul1, sul2, sul3, blaCTX-M, blaSHV, blaTEM and mcr-1. A PCR positivity was highlighted for 13 out of the 21 tested genes; no positive results were obtained for tet(C), tet(D), tet(E), tet(G), sul3, blaCTX, blaSHV and mcr-1 genes. All 11 animals sampled showed positivity for one or more resistance genes. The results confirm the potential role of the wolf as an indicator and/or vector of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria or ARGs.

Wolves have returned to Germany since 2000. Numbers have grown to 209 territorial pairs in 2021. XGBoost machine learning, combined with SHAP analysis is applied to predict German wolf pair presence in 2022 for 10 × 10 km grid cells. Model input consisted of 38 variables from open sources, covering the period 2000 to 2021. The XGBoost model predicted well, with 0.91 as the AUC. SHAP analysis ranked the variables: distance to the closest neighboring wolf pair was the main driver for a grid cell to become occupied by a wolf pair. The clustering tendency of related wolves seems to be an important explanatory factor here. Second was the percentage of wooded area. The next eight variables related to wolf presence in the preceding year, except at fifth, eighth and tenth position in the total order: human density (square root) in the grid, percentage arable land and road density respectively. Other variables including the occurrence of wild prey were the weakest predictors. The SHAP analysis also provided crucial added value in identifying a variable that had threshold values where its contribution to the prediction changed from positive to negative or vice versa. For instance, low density of people increased the probability of wolf pair presence, whereas a high density decreased this probability. Cumulative lift techniques showed that the model performed almost four times better than random prediction. The combination of XGBoost, SHAP and cumulative lift techniques is new in wolf management and conservation, allowing for the focusing of educational and financial resources.

Wolves, akin to their fellow canids, extensively employ chemical signals for various aspects of communication, including territory maintenance, reproductive synchronisation and social hierarchy signalling. Pheromone-mediated chemical communication operates unconsciously among individuals, serving as an innate sensory modality that regulates both their physiology and behaviour. Despite its crucial role in the life of the wolf, there is a lacuna in comprehensive research on the neuroanatomical and physiological underpinnings of chemical communication within this species. This study investigates the vomeronasal system (VNS) of the Iberian wolf, simultaneously probing potential alterations brought about by dog domestication. Our findings demonstrate the presence of a fully functional VNS, vital for pheromone-mediated communication, in the Iberian wolf. While macroscopic similarities between the VNS of the wolf and the domestic dog are discernible, notable microscopic differences emerge. These distinctions include the presence of neuronal clusters associated with the sensory epithelium of the vomeronasal organ (VNO) and a heightened degree of differentiation of the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB). Immunohistochemical analyses reveal the expression of the two primary families of vomeronasal receptors (V1R and V2R) within the VNO. However, only the V1R family is expressed in the AOB. These findings not only yield profound insights into the VNS of the wolf but also hint at how domestication might have altered neural configurations that underpin species-specific behaviours. This understanding holds implications for the development of innovative strategies, such as the application of semiochemicals for wolf population management, aligning with contemporary conservation goals.

Interactions between different species of predators are not uncommon, yet they are generally understudied in North America. Across their range, gray wolves (Canis lupus) and wolverines (Gulo gulo) occupy similar habitats and dietary niches. However, due to the elusiveness and relatively low density of these two species, interactions between them are not well documented. Here, we describe three instances of a single wolf pack killing a wolverine in the span of 13 months. None of the wolverines killed by wolves were consumed, suggesting that food was not the primary motivation behind the killings. Alternatively, defense of a food resource, territoriality, interspecific competitive killing, or some combination of those behaviors appear to be the cause of these actions. Documentation of these occurrences improves our understanding of wolf and wolverine ecology, interspecific predator interactions, and potential future changes to this aspect of community ecology.

Although sampling the five tallest young aspen in a stand is useful for detecting the occurrence of any aspen recruitment, this technique overestimates the population response of aspen to wolf reintroduction. Our original conclusion that random sampling described a trophic cascade that was weaker than the one described by non-random sampling is unchanged.

A central debate in ecology has been the long-running discussion on the role of apex predators in affecting the abundance and dynamics of their prey. In terrestrial systems, research has primarily relied on correlational approaches, due to the challenge of implementing robust experiments with replication and appropriate controls. A consequence of this is that we largely suffer from a lack of mechanistic understanding of the population dynamics of interacting species, which can be surprisingly complex. Mechanistic models offer an opportunity to examine the causes and consequences of some of this complexity. We present a bioenergetic mechanistic model of a tritrophic system where the primary vegetation resource follows a seasonal growth function, and the herbivore and carnivore species are modeled using two integral projection models (IPMs) with body mass as the phenotypic trait. Within each IPM, the demographic functions are structured according to bioenergetic principles, describing how animals acquire and transform resources into body mass, energy reserves, and breeding potential. We parameterize this model to reproduce the population dynamics of grass, elk, and wolves in northern Yellowstone National Park (USA) and investigate the impact of wolf reintroduction on the system. Our model generated predictions that closely matched the observed population sizes of elk and wolf in Yellowstone prior to and following wolf reintroduction. The introduction of wolves into our basal grass-elk bioenergetic model resulted in a population of 99 wolves and a reduction in elk numbers by 61% (from 14,948 to 5823) at equilibrium. In turn, vegetation biomass increased by approximately 25% in the growing season and more than threefold in the nongrowing season. The addition of wolves to the model caused the elk population to switch from being food-limited to being predator-limited and had a stabilizing effect on elk numbers across different years. Wolf predation also led to a shift in the phenotypic composition of the elk population via a small increase in elk average body mass. Our model represents a novel approach to the study of predator-prey interactions, and demonstrates that explicitly considering and linking bioenergetics, population demography and body mass phenotypes can provide novel insights into the mechanisms behind complex ecosystem processes.