Talk:Vancouver Coastal Sea wolf

"Sea Wolves"

There is no distinction between "inland" and "coastal". These are the same animals and will travel far distances based on territory and food available. The marine based diet will fluctuate based on this. There is not enough reliable information on diet of the population as a whole. 2001:569:BDBF:3800:734D:29C8:D205:3891 (talk) 04:39, 30 November 2022 (UTC)

Appearance Major Update (Morphometrics and Weights)

Hi, I reviewed some literature on the Vancouver Island Gray Wolf (Vancouver Coastal Sea Wolf) : Canis lupus crassodon.

Here is the current section of the present wikipedia article and what I would remove is in bold. I describe what I found (from my readings of the literature) afterwards in a detailed, long and untrimmed manner. Of course, it would need some reduction and an efficient way to summarize what I found from my lectures because it shouldn't take as much space as the contents below [after the quotation of the present article section known as "Appearance"].

--> Copy-Paste of the Appearance Section of the Wikipedia Article : "The Vancouver Sea wolf is of medium size, measuring roughly 26 to 32 inches high, 4 to 5 feet from nose to end of tail, and weighing roughly 60 lbs. It is usually a mix of grey, brown, and black. Occasionally, they are seen pure white." <-- Copy-Paste of the Appearance Section of the Wikipedia Article

The Vancouver Island Wolf (C. l. crassodon), now known commonly as the Vancouver Coastal Sea Wolf, has been the subject of a few studies on it morphological characteristics.

Wolves are usually classified as adult at the age of 2 year old. This is why I included only the information about that age class (2 years and/or older).

First up, Atkinson and Janz (1986)

There were 9 adult males [Weight (kg), Sex (F or M), Estimated Age (years), Condition (Kidney Fat Index)] :

• 29.8 kg (M, 5+, Fair)
• 34.4 kg (M, 2+, Fair)
• 36.7 kg (M, 7-8, Good)
• 34.8 kg (M, 3+, Good)
• 36.2 kg (M, 3+, Poor to Fair)
• 36.0 kg (M, 5+, Good)
• 30.8 kg (M, 3+, Good)
• 34.5 kg (M, 7-8, Good)
• 33.4 kg (M, 2-3, Fair).

This would give an average (n = 9) of 34.07 kg (rounded : 34.1 kg) and a range of 29.8 to 36.7 kg.

Note : The condition of the wolf is function of the kidney fat index :

• Best Condition to Worst : G [Good], F [Fair], P [poor] and VP [very poor]

Actually, there were 13 adult males wolves killed (Table 2 : Necropsy results for wolves removed). However, 2 of them were not weighed, 1 was weighed but without his tail and one of his foot (27.5 kg, M, 7+, Good), and another had a very poor [VP] kidney fat index (23.8 kg, M, 2+, Very Poor). There were 6 adult females wolves killed (Table 2). They were :

• 23.0 kg (F, 4+, Fair) [Weight without tail and one foot]
• 28.9 kg (F, 7+, Good)
• 30.6 kg (F, 11+, Poor to Fair)
• 29.0 kg (F, 2+, Good)
• 28.3 kg (F, 3+, Good)
• 23.6 kg (F, 2+, Fair)

This would give an average (n = 5) of 28.08 kg (rounded : 28.1 kg) and a range of 23.6 to 30.6 kg.

The Location was the Nimpkish Valley, on Vancouver Island.

Therefore, I would use the average and range of the 9 adult males with a kidney fat index in-between Poor to Good, discarding the VP male and the one who was weighed without his tail and 1 feet. I would use the average and range of the 5 adult females, discarding the female who was weighed without her tail and a foot.

Then there is the thesis of Scott (1979)  :

In the thesis, the individual measurements were taken on 9 captured wolves in-between April 10 and November 1, 1978 near Kelsey Bay, Vancouver Island. Of these, there were 4 adult males and 2 adult females wolves. [Table 6 of the thesis]

The four adult males weighed 38.6, 32.7, 36.7 and 36.7 kg. The mean weight of these 4 adult males was 36.18 kg and the weights ranged from 32.7 to 38.6 kg. The two adult females measured weighed 31.8 and 31.4 kg. The mean weight was 31.6 kg and the weights ranged from 31.4 to 31.8 kg. About other morphometrics of these adult wolves : (M - Male, F- Female) :

• Total Length (M) [n = 4] : 1777.5 mm (1727 - 1803) | Total Length (F) [n = 2] : 1676.5 mm (1638 - 1715)
• Tail Length (M) [n = 4] : 458.0 mm (394 - 495) | Tail Length (F) [n = 2] : 432 mm (432 - 432)

There are also measurements given for hind foot length, heart girth and upper/lower canines length.

Finally, the study of Hatter (1988) , also done near Kelsey Bay, Vancouver Island. There were 5 wolves captured in 6 capture events. Of those, 3 were pups : 1 male (twice) and an unknown gender pup and 3 were adult males. They weighed 32.2, 33.8 and 30.8 kg. The average weight is 32.27 kg (Rounded : 32.3 kg).

If we take all adult wolves (excluding those i noted : not weighed, VP, Weighed with tail and foot removed) from the 3 studies (Scott 1979, Atkinson 1986, Hatter 1988), we have 16 adult males and 7 adult females.

• Adult males [Scott 1979 ; Atkinson 1986, Hatter 1988] (n = 16) : 34.26 kg (Rounded : 34.3 kg) | Range : 29.8 to 38.6 kg
• Adult females [Scott 1979 ; Atkinson 1986] (n = 7) : 29.09 kg (Rounded : 29.1 kg) | Range : 23.6 to 31.8 kg

Gimly24 (talk) 19:11, 4 December 2022 (UTC)

References