The Great Plains wolf (Canis lupus nubilus ), also known as the buffalo wolf or loafer, is an extinct subspecies of gray wolf that once extended throughout the Great Plains, from southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada southward to northern Texas in the United States. The subspecies was declared extinct in 1926. They were described as a large, light-colored wolf but with black and white varying between individual wolves, with some all white or all black. The Native Americans of North Dakota told of how only three Great Plains wolves could bring down any sized bison.
The Great Plains wolf's distribution once extended throughout the Great Plains from southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan southward to northern Texas. They are described as a large, light-colored wolf but with black and white varying between individual wolves, with some all white or all black. The body length is 1.7 m (5.6 ft) with a weight of the male averaging 100 lb (45 kg) and the heaviest recorded at 150 lb (68 kg). The Native Americans of North Dakota told of how only three of these wolves could bring down a buffalo, including a large old bull.
Early records indicate C. l. nubilus being very abundant throughout the Great Plains. After the mass extirpations of the American bison (Bison bison ), they were poisoned and trapped for their pelts until few remained. The pioneer Alexander Henry wrote about these wolves several times during his trips to North Dakota, noting how they fed extensively on buffalo carcasses. They were bold around humans, sometimes approaching people and entering their tents while they slept. He recorded that Indians occasionally dug up wolf pups from their prairie dens and dug large pitfalls to capture wolves and foxes. Members of his group dug up wolf pups and found them very tame and easy to train. In 1833 Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied recorded that these wolves were common in the upper Missouri, where the Indians operated wolf pits and traded wolves to him in exchange for two rolls of tobacco each. He found the Indian's dogs to be more of a personal danger than the wolves.
In 1856, Lt. G. K. Warren gathered together a collection of this wolf's skulls which now reside in the National Museum of Natural History. He noted that some wolf skull specimens appeared not to be full-blooded wolves as their molars indicated a hybrid. There have been many stories in this region about ferocious hybrid wolf-dogs, and it is possible that the wolf's tameness and lack of fear of humans might be due admixture with domestic dogs. In North Dakota, by 1875 sightings of the wolf became rare, by 1887 they were almost gone. On the Canadian Prairies, bounty payments for wolves commenced in 1878 in Manitoba, and 1899 in Saskatchewan and Alberta. In North Dakota, two were sighted in 1915 by Remington Kellogg. The last known wolf was shot in 1922. The Great Plains wolf was officially declared extinct in 1926.
