Arctic Wolf, originally uploaded by Marke Clinger.

To the best of my knowledge this is an arctic wolf. I was driving just outside of the city of Yellowknife, NT in Canada when it crossed the road in front of me. It stopped and posed on a berm on the side of the road. I think it was sizing me up for dinner.

I sat in the car, rolled down the back window and shot the picture of the arctic wolf through the rear passenger side of the car with a Nikon Digital Camera using the Nikon 80-400 VR Zoom Nikkor Lens. I have visited Yellowknife 4 or 5 times, but this was the only time I saw an arctic wolf. Probably because my customer likes to bring me up during the winter when it is 35 degrees below zero C. Actually it isn’t a right of passage, just when he does planning for the spring thaw when he is able to service his satellite network throughout Northern Canada. At least what he tells me anyway.

The Artic wolf, a subspecies of the gray wolf, has smaller ears, shorter muzzles, and shorter legs than a gray wolves to reduce their exposure to the Artic air. They also have more body fat to help insulate them from the cold air. Based on my reading they are normally found north of 70 degrees N. Yellowknife is at 62 degrees N so this seems a bit south for this animal.