Cascade mountain wolf

The Cascade mountain wolf (Canis lupus fuscus) is an extinct subspecies of the gray wolf that was once found in the Pacific Northwest (British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington),^[3] but became extinct in 1940.^[3]

Cascade Mountains wolf
Illustration based on a description by Edward Alphonso Goldman
Conservation status
Extinct (1940)  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Canidae
Genus:	Canis
Species:	C. lupus
Subspecies:	†C. l. fuscus
Trinomial name
†Canis lupus fuscus Richardson 1839[1]
Historical and present range of gray wolf subspecies in North America
Synonyms[2]
Canis lupus gigas (Townsend, 1850)

Taxonomy

It was originally identified as a separate species by Richardson in 1839^[4] and from other wolves in the area by Edward Goldman in 1945.^[5] It is recognized as a subspecies of Canis lupus in the taxonomic authority Mammal Species of the World (2005).^[6]

Description

It was described as a cinnamon-coloured wolf, measuring 165 cm (65 in) and weighing 36–49 kg (79–108 lb).^[7]

Resettlement

Recently another subspecies, the British Columbia wolf (Canis lupus columbianus), has established itself in the Cascade mountain wolf's past territory by following the Cascade Range through Washington and is now west of the Cascade Crest,^[8] expanding across Oregon,^[9] and into northern California to Lassen Peak, where in 2019 the Lassen pack produced 3 pups.^[10]