The steppe wolf (''Canis lupus campestris''), also known as the Caspian Sea wolf, is a

subspecies of grey wolf There are 38 subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' listed in the taxonomic authority '' Mammal Species of the World'' (2005, 3rd edition). These subspecies were named over the past 250 years, and since their naming, a number of them have gone extinct. ...

native to the

Caspian Caspian can refer to: *The Caspian Sea *The Caspian Depression, surrounding the northern part of the Caspian Sea *The Caspians, the ancient people living near the Caspian Sea * Caspian languages, collection of languages and dialects of Caspian p ...

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslan ...

s, the steppe regions of the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

, the lower

Volga region The Volga Region (russian: Поволжье, ''Povolzhye'', literally: "along the Volga") is a historical region in Russia that encompasses the drainage basin of the Volga River, the longest river in Europe, in central and southern European Russ ...

, southern

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental coun ...

north to the middle of the Emba, and the steppe regions of the lower European part of the

former Soviet Union The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

. It may also occur in northern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

and occasionally the steppe regions of

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

and

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

. The German name is ''der Steppenwolf'', whence the novel (1927) by German-Swiss author

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', '' Steppenwolf'', '' Siddhartha'', and '' The Glass Bead Game'', each of which explores an individual' ...

is named. Studies have shown that this type of wolf is known to carry rabies. Due to its close proximity to domestic animals, the need for a reliable vaccination is high. Rueness ''et al.'' (2014) showed that wolves in the

Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains, : pronounced * hy, Կովկասյան լեռներ, : pronounced * az, Qafqaz dağları, pronounced * rus, Кавка́зские го́ры, Kavkázskiye góry, kɐfˈkasːkʲɪje ˈɡorɨ * tr, Kafkas Dağla ...

of the putative Caucasian subspecies, ''C. l. cubanensis'', are not genetically distinct enough to be considered a subspecies, but may represent a local

ecomorph Ecomorphology or ecological morphology is the study of the relationship between the ecological, ecological role of an individual and its morphology (biology), morphological adaptations. The term "morphological" here is in the anatomical context. Bot ...

of ''C. l. lupus''. In Kazakhstan, villagers keep them as guard animals.

Appearance

It is of average dimensions, weighing 35–40 kg (77–88 lb), thus being somewhat smaller than the

Eurasian wolf The Eurasian wolf (''Canis lupus lupus''), also known as the common wolf,Mech, L. David (1981), ''The Wolf: The Ecology and Behaviour of an Endangered Species'', University of Minnesota Press, p. 354, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to Europ ...

, 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 The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, it is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, cattle ...

usually do 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. Steppe wolves occasionally surplus kill

Caspian seal The Caspian seal (''Pusa caspica'', syn. ''Phoca caspica'') is one of the smallest members of the earless seal family and unique in that it is found exclusively in the brackish Caspian Sea. It lives along the shorelines, but also on the many roc ...

s.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

References

Mammals described in 1804 Subspecies of Canis lupus Mammals of Central Asia Mammals of Russia {{canid-stub