ETHIOPIAN WOLVES ► Taxonomy & genetics

The Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) is a close relative of grey wolves, domestic dogs and coyotes. The only close relative of these species in Africa, they are clearly a unique taxon worthy of conservation because of the distinctiveness of their evolutionary heritage.

Ethiopian wolves most likely evolved from a grey wolf -like ancestor that crossed to Northern Africa from Eurasia as recently as 100,000 years ago. There are fossils of wolf-like canids from that time in Eurasia, but onfortunately no fosil record of C. simenis. This estimated coalescence time coincides with the onset of the last glacial cycle, when Afroalpine habitats expanded over more than 110,000km2. The emerging species, pre-adapted to cold climates, successfully expanded and colonized these emerging habitats.

Some 18,000ya a fragmentation process started with global warming at the begining of the present interglacial cycle. Today Ethiopian wolves are found in seven populations on both sides of the Rift Valley. Under intense human pressure, the remaining populations are increasingly isolated, risking genetic loss and extinction.

Recent studies unveiled a genetic structuring that coincides with three main mountain blocks across the species distribution (see research). The results did not support the clasificacion of two subspecies north and south of the Rift Valley, respectively: C. s. simensis and C. s. citernii, described from a smaller sample of wolves on the bases of skull morphology and coat color.

Ethiopian wolf allelic diversity and heterozygosity is low, probably the lowest found among living canids, and fitness may be already compromised. Wolves in the Bale Mountains, the largest population with around 300 wolves, have very low genetic diversity, whereas the smaller populations in the North have retained most of the variation.

See Taxonomy & genetics publications.