Wednesday 5 September 2012

African wolf found in Morocco for the first time

Camera trap photos from the Middle Atlas reveal a wolf
September 2012. A group of Spanish-Moroccan researchers has announced the discovery of the African Wolf (Canis lupus lupaster) in the Middle Atlas Mountains of Morocco. The team leader, Vicente Urios, from the University of Alicante says it is "a fabulous find". The wolves were photographed by camera trap in 2011.
The researchers discovered from the Berbers that inhabit that they knew of two types of "jackals", one large and one small. Vicente Urios's team guessed that the largest would actually be a wolf. "They even have a word for wolf, but they always thought the animals were jackals" says Urios.
The photographs show an animal with "obvious wolf characteristics, such as a large body, slender, with a powerful neck, tall individuals with darker mantle and short tail." The photo is taken in the Atlas at about 1,800 metres.
Much larger distribution than previously thought
This discovery extends the known distribution area of the African Wolf (Canis lupus lupaster) westwards by more than 3000 Km to north-west Africa.



Read on:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/morocco-wolf.html

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