Mexican Gray Wolf

Photographer Bruce D. Taubert captured this image of a Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) by using a camera trap on Escudilla Mountain, in Eastern Arizona. “As part of the Mexican gray wolf recovery, I was allowed to place one camera within one of the pack’s home ranges,” he says. ”Apparently, wolves are especially reluctant to approach new features in their habitat, and they are not fond of camera flashes. I was extremely lucky to get this one image.” The Arizona Game and Fish Department has been reintroducing the wolves to portions of their historical range since 1998. The wolves, which are the smallest of North America’s gray wolf population, prey on large ungulates — including, controversially, livestock — along with smaller mammals. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Mexican gray wolf as an endangered species in 1976.