Bernard's Wolf
Encyclopedia
Bernard's Wolf also known as the Banks Island Tundra Wolf and the Banks Island Wolf, was a subspecies
of the gray wolf
, Canis lupus, that was limited to the Banks
and Victoria islands of the Canadian
arctic. An extinct species, it was described as "white with black-tipped hair along the ridge of the back". It was formally discovered, classified, and named after Peter Bernard and Joseph F. Bernard, his nephew.
There were very few specimens of this subspecies that were recovered, somewhere between three and four in total.
A survey was conducted in March 1993 by the Department of Renewable Resources that was to catalog the wolf and caribou populations of the area. While a number of caribou were found and recorded, along with many other indigenous
animal species, not a single wolf was found.
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
of the gray wolf
Gray Wolf
The gray wolf , also known as the wolf, is the largest extant wild member of the Canidae family...
, Canis lupus, that was limited to the Banks
Banks Island
One of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Banks Island is situated in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is separated from Victoria Island to its east by the Prince of Wales Strait and from the mainland by Amundsen Gulf to its south. The Beaufort Sea lies...
and Victoria islands of the Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
arctic. An extinct species, it was described as "white with black-tipped hair along the ridge of the back". It was formally discovered, classified, and named after Peter Bernard and Joseph F. Bernard, his nephew.
There were very few specimens of this subspecies that were recovered, somewhere between three and four in total.
A survey was conducted in March 1993 by the Department of Renewable Resources that was to catalog the wolf and caribou populations of the area. While a number of caribou were found and recorded, along with many other indigenous
Indigenous (ecology)
In biogeography, a species is defined as native to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention. Every natural organism has its own natural range of distribution in which it is regarded as native...
animal species, not a single wolf was found.