Tuesday, July 8, 2025

8 gray wolf pups born at Coahuila’s Desert Museum

The Desert Museum in Saltillo, Coahuila, has announced the birth of eight healthy Mexican gray wolf pups this spring, the fifth litter born at the facility and an important step for a species that is in danger of extinction. 

Since 2009, the museum has been part of the Binational Committee for the Recovery of the Mexican Gray Wolf, made up of more than 50 institutions from Mexico and the United States. 

The gray wolf, one of the most endangered mammals in North America, once roamed southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, western Texas and Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental before being driven to the brink of extinction in the 1970s due to hunting and habitat encroachment. 

“After the massacres that occurred in the ‘60s and ‘70s, a total of seven Mexican wolves were recovered; they were wild and were captured to restart the breeding program,” explained Miguel Ángel Armella Villalpando, a biology professor at the Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico City. 

Currently, most gray wolves exist in captivity as zoos and wildlife parks hope to increase their numbers. Mexico has released 30 captive wolves into the wild, and the United States has more than 100 living outside of captivity.

The Desert Museum has been successful in its breeding program, with litters born in 2015, 2016 and 2017. After no pups were born in 2018, the museum switched out the breeding pair and welcomed three pups in 2019, and the most recent litter of eight — four males and three females — in April. The museum currently has 18 gray wolves in its care.

Also this year, a sanctuary in New Mexico saw the birth of seven healthy pups, bringing the total number of Mexican gray wolves in existence in the world to 204.

All the Coahuila pups are part of preventive medicine, nutrition and enrichment programs established for the species and supported by the University of Coahuila and Carlos Slim’s wildlife foundation.

Source: Heraldo de Mexico (sp), El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Texas flooding

Mexico aids 30 citizens, celebrates heroic counselors following deadly Texas floods

0
The president said the Mexican Consulate in San Antonio is in communication with Mexican families affected by the floods and will visit shelters as soon as possible.
Anti-gentrification protest Mexico City

Hundreds protest gentrification in Mexico City’s Condesa and Roma neighborhoods

6
Most of the protesters were young people, including residents and former residents of inner-city Mexico City neighborhoods that have seen rents triple since the COVID-19 pandemic.
light phenomenon in the sky

NASA astronaut captures glimpse of mysterious ‘sprite’ over Mexico

0
The atmospheric phenomenon is rarely seen from the ground. But astronauts on the International Space Station have the best seat in the universe, especially when hovering over Mexican skies.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity