Steppe wolf

The steppe wolf (Canis lupus campestris), also known as Caspian Sea wolf, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to the Caspian steppes, the steppe regions of the Caucasus, the lower Volga region, southern Kazakhstan north to the middle of the Emba, the northern Urals, and the steppe regions of the lower European part of the former Soviet Union. It may also occur in northern Afghanistan and Iran and occasionally the steppe regions of Romania and Hungary.<ref name="soviet">Mammals of the Soviet Union Vol.II Part 1a, SIRENIA AND CARNIVORA (Sea cows; Wolves and Bears), V.G Heptner and N.P Naumov editors, Science Publishers, Inc. USA. 1998. ISBN 1-886106-81-9</ref>

Rueness et al. (2014) showed that wolves in the Caucasus Mountains of the putative Caucasian subspecies, C. l. cubanensis, are not genetically distinct enough to be considered a subspecies, but may represent a local ecomorph of C. l. lupus.<ref name="kopaliani">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Appearance

It is of average dimensions, weighing 35–40 kg (77–88 lbs), thus being somewhat smaller than the Eurasian wolf and its fur is sparser, coarser and shorter. The flanks are light grey, and the back is rusty grey or brownish with a strong admixture of black hairs. The guard hairs on the withers usually does not exceed 70–75 mm. The fur of steppe wolves in Middle Asia and Kazakhstan tends to have more reddish tones. The tail is poorly furred. The skull is 224–272 mm long and 128–152 mm wide.<ref name="soviet" />

Steppe wolves occasionally surplus kill Caspian seals.<ref name="seals">Rumyantsev, V. D. and L. S. Khuraskin. 1978. New data on the mortality of the Caspian seal due to wolves. Page 187 in Congress of the All-Union Theriological Society, 2nd (P. A. Panteleev, et al. eds.). Nauka, Moscow, USSR. ZR 116(19):5669</ref>