![]() ![]() More populations reside in southeastern Alaska, though overall sea wolves have declined in number over time. Vancouver Island isn’t the only place they call home. Additionally, they're often reddish brown in color. “Interior wolves are about 20 percent bigger, maybe like a Pyrenees,” Darimont says. ![]() ![]() They’re smaller in stature than gray wolves in other parts of the country, another effect of their diet. ( See 12 of our favorite wolf pictures.) They're about the size of a German shepherd. “Our farthest record is to an archipelago 7.5 miles from the nearest landmass,” he says. When hunting for food, sea wolves can swim miles between islands and rocky outcrops to feast on seals and animal carcasses found on the rocks. ( See more photos of coastal wolves.) They’re excellent swimmers.Ĭoastal wolves live with two paws in the ocean and two paws on land, Darimont says. Beyond that, they forage on barnacles, clams, herring eggs, seals, river otters, and whale carcasses. People usually associate wolf meals with elk or deer, but these guys are practically pescatarians, with salmon accounting for nearly a quarter of their diet. "When we think about genetic differentiation, we imagine animal species that are separated by large distances will be genetically different from one another." Up to 90 percent of their diet is seafood. "Wolves are highly mobile animals they have home ranges that are hundreds of kilometers in area and they are capable of crossing many types of natural barriers, including small bodies of water," she says. Though such genetic differences within wolves is not uncommon, discovering it in an area as small as the west coast of Vancouver Island is, says co-author Erin Navid, a research grants officer at the University of Calgary. Their genes prove it collectively, coastal island wolves have distinct DNA that sets them apart from interior wolves, according to a 2014 study published in BMC Ecology. Unlike their inland cousins, coastal island wolves are entirely dedicated to the sea. “The mainland coastal wolves are every bit as 'coastal,' though they do eat less seafood compared to those on islands," Darimont says. There are two populations: mainland coastal wolves and coastal island wolves, the latter being the focus of Gregory’s quest. He shared some intriguing facts about this little-seen population of gray wolf. Chris Darimont, science director at the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, has studied the carnivores' unusual lifestyle for nearly two decades. ![]()
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