The gray wolf is the largest wild member of the dog family and is an ice age survivor that originated 300,000 years ago. Genetic studies show gray wolves share a common ancestry with domestic dogs. Gray wolves were once abundant across Eurasia and North America but now inhabit a small fraction of their former range due to widespread habitat destruction and human encroachment leading to extensive extermination.

1. Wolves gray wolf ( Canis lupus ), also known as the timber wolf or simply wolf , is the largest wild member of the Canidae family. It is an ice age survivor originating during the Late Pleistocene around 300,000 years ago. [3] DNA sequencing and genetic drift studies reaffirm that the gray wolf shares a common ancestry with the domestic dog ( Canis lupus familiaris ). Although certain aspects of this conclusion have been questioned, including recently [4] , the main body of evidence confirms it. A number of other gray wolf subspecies have been identified, though the actual number of subspecies is still open to discussion. Gray wolves are typically apex predators in the ecosystems they occupy. Though not as adaptable as more generalist canid species [4] , wolves have thrived in temperate forests , deserts , mountains , tundra , taiga , grasslands , and even urban areas . [5

3. Picture of a Wolf