This Wednesday,
October 21, hear the traditional Navajo winter story of Mai Tso (wolf) told by gifted
storyteller and folklorist Sunny Dooley. The Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project
is hosting the event to cast a different light on wolves and share a
traditional story of this endangered species from a southwest cultural
perspective. The non-profit organization works to build an educated and
supportive community to welcome the return of wolves to their historic home
range. The evening will begin with Animal Land, a
stunning visual art installation by artists Lauren Strohacker and Kendra
Sollars.
Here are
some critical facts you might not know about the very intelligent and beautiful
wolf:
1. Wolves are family oriented, social animals. They live in extended families called packs. Each member of a pack helps, from hunting to caring for pups.
2. Mexican wolves are native to the American Southwest and Mexico, but most were wiped out early in the 20th century by a government extermination campaign.
3. There are currently 110 Mexican wolves in the wild. The reintroduced population of Mexican wolves lives in the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico.
4. All Mexican wolves alive today are descendants of just 7 individual wolves that remained by the early 1980s when a captive breeding program began to save the species from extinction.
5. They are considered one of the most endangered mammals in North American and the most endangered subspecies of wolf in the world.
6. The Grand Canyon region is one of the last best places for the recovery of wolves in the United States and research says it could sustain at least 250 wolves.
