– But the Ezo wolf being larger in size hunted mainly the endemic Hokkaido sika deer ( Cervus nippon yesoensis). The Honshu wolf inhabited the mountainous areas on the islands, preying on a variety of small mammals, including monkeys. They had not only short legs, but also their hair was short and wiry and their tail was thin and dog-like and rounded at the end.
In its appearance the Honshu wolf resembled much more like dogs and jackals than its Siberian wolf ancestors. Its body length measured about 90 cm and the height at the shoulder only 30 cm. The Honshu wolf was the world's smallest known wild subspecies of the wolf ( Canis lupus).
The Hokkaido wolf was typically gray in color and significantly larger than the wolves on Honshu and the more southern islands.The Ezo wolf inhabited the Hokkaido and Sakhalin islands as well as the southern Kuril island and parts of the Kamchatka peninsula, whilst the distribution of the Honshu wolf was limited to the islands of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. The skull was large and formidable, with long, curved canines. It was larger than the Honshu wolf, resembling more closely the size and color of a regular Siberian wolf. The Ezo wolf had a more traditionally wolf-like appearance than its southern relative, the Honshu wolf.
As often in evolution the isolated wolf populations on both islands became a special subspecies over the years, namely the Hokkaido or Ezo wolf ( Canis lupus hattai) and the Honshu wolf ( Canis lupus hodophilax). On the Japanese islands the wolf was isolated from the rest of the species. Stuffed Ezo wolves Botanic Garden & Museum Hokkaido University (Click to view larger image).
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