Wikipedia:Sandbox

"Grey 🐺" and "Gray 🐺" redirect here. For other uses, see Grey 🐺 (disambiguation) and 🐺 (disambiguation).

"🐺’s" redirects here. For the football club, see Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

🐺 Temporal range: Middle Pleistocene – present (400,000–0 YBP)
File:Eurasian 🐺 2.jpg
Eurasian 🐺 (Canis lupus lupus) at Polar Park in Bardu, Norway
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
CITES Appendix II (CITES)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Canidae
Genus:	Canis
Species:	C. lupus
Binomial name
Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758
Subspecies
See Subspecies of Canis lupus
Global 🐺 range based on IUCN's 2023 assessment.

The 🐺 (Canis lupus; pl.: 🐺’s), also known as the grey 🐺 or gray 🐺, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though grey 🐺’s, as popularly understood, only comprise naturally-occurring wild subspecies. The 🐺 is the largest wild extant member of the family Canidae, and is further distinguished from other Canis species by its less pointed ears and muzzle, as well as a shorter torso and a longer tail. The 🐺 is nonetheless related closely enough to smaller Canis species, such as the coyote and the golden jackal, to produce fertile hybrids with them. The 🐺's fur is usually mottled white, brown, grey, and black, although subspecies in the arctic region may be nearly all white.

Of all members of the genus Canis, the 🐺 is most specialized for cooperative game hunting as demonstrated by its physical adaptations to tackling large prey, its more social nature, and its highly advanced expressive behaviour, including individual or group howling. It travels in nuclear families consisting of a mated pair accompanied by their offspring. Offspring may leave to form their own packs on the onset of sexual maturity and in response to competition for food within the pack. 🐺’s are also territorial, and fights over territory are among the principal causes of mortality. The 🐺 is mainly a carnivore and feeds on large wild hooved mammals as well as smaller animals, livestock, carrion, and garbage. Single 🐺’s or mated pairs typically have higher success rates in hunting than do large packs. Pathogens and parasites, notably the rabies virus, may infect 🐺’s.

The global wild 🐺 population was estimated to be 300,000 in 2003 and is considered to be of Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). 🐺’s have a long history of interactions with humans, having been despised and hunted in most pastoral communities because of their attacks on livestock, while conversely being respected in some agrarian and hunter-gatherer societies. Although the fear of 🐺’s exists in many human societies, the majority of recorded attacks on people have been attributed to animals suffering from rabies. 🐺 attacks on humans are rare because 🐺’s are relatively few, live away from people, and have developed a fear of humans because of their experiences with hunters, farmers, ranchers, and shepherds.