Essential. Endangered. Extremely naughty!

These soon-to-be one-year-old Mexican gray wolf pups had a great time playing this morning! Too bad it was at the expense of their HD dencam.

Beyond being naughty, these critically endangered Mexican gray wolves represent our active participation in an effort to save the species on the brink of extinction.

The Mexican gray wolf or “lobo” is the most genetically distinct lineage of wolves in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the most endangered mammals in North America. By the mid-1980s, hunting, trapping, and poisoning caused the extinction of lobos in the wild, with only a handful remaining in captivity. In 1998 the wolves were reintroduced into the wild as part of a federal reintroduction program under the Endangered Species Act.