How many himalayan wolves are left

Wolves living in the Himalayas are to be recognised as a subspecies of the grey wolf, with researchers predicting that the animals will soon be declared a unique species.

The wolves surviving at high altitudes in Nepal and on the Tibetan plateau possess a genetic adaptation to cope with the lack of oxygen that is not found in any other wolf, a study reports. The research, published in the Journal of Biogeography , reveals the evolutionary uniqueness of the wolf based on a number of different genetic markers.

It will now be used as the basis to recognise the Himalayan wolf formally as a subspecies, with its own scientific name. However, to date there is no evidence to suggest that this has actually occurred. Perhaps some evidence of that will be found in the future. Today there are less than Himalayan Wolves left in the wild. There are also 21 of them that live in zoos around India.

With such a low population it is very hard to increase their numbers. Instead they continue to do all they can to ensure these animals have a place to live and access to food. This is a very difficult task though and one that needs a great deal of support in order to be successful. Part of the success of helping them to survive involves breeding programs that take place in captivity around India. These young pups are being raised to help increase the numbers.

The goal is to one day be able to release many of them back into the wild. Both science and conservation have tended to overlook it, seeing it as just another grey wolf, according to researchers from the UK, China, Nepal and Austria. But their recent work shows otherwise. The main human threats the wolf faces appear to be retaliation for livestock depredation and selling body parts in the flourishing illegal wildlife trade.

Livestock is seasonally often more abundant in the habitats than wild prey species, which poses two problems. First, the wolves encounter much more livestock than wild prey. However, the full genome would need to be mapped before you could say much more. Other behavioral evidence supports the idea that Himalayan wolves could be unique from their gray relatives. The Himalayan wolf howls to a different tune than other wolves, for example. Werhahn describes the howls as shorter and slightly lower in pitch than the nighttime songs of gray wolves.

In the Himalayas, people hunt wolves with guns, or using poison or snares. Himalayan wolves are often culled by locals who fear the predators will attack their livestock, and Tibetan shepherds count on the health and safety of their herds for their livelihoods. During the expedition, Werhahn felt compelled to hide the fact that her team was observing a wolf family across the valley whenever nomads would pass through their camp.

When dens are discovered, she says, people often kill any wolves they encounter, lighting fires near the entrance and putting up stones to block their exit.

Part of the larger issue is that these wolves have no space to avoid confrontations with people.