No matter the species, one thing is universal: siblings enjoy annoying the heck out of one another! 

Beyond purposefully annoying one another, these Mexican gray wolf sisters represent the Wolf Conservation Center’s participation in the active effort to to save their species from 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, and today this rare subspecies is on its way towards recovery!

In its annual survey released last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) reported that 186 wild Mexican gray wolves were counted in the U.S. in 2020 – a 14% increase since last year and a new high since the endangered wolf was returned to the wild 23 years ago.