History of Distribution:
The Ethiopian wolf is endemic to Ethiopia. It was reported from most Ethiopian provinces in the 19th century. It has been rare since it was first recorded by science. By the late 1970’s it was thought to survive in only four populations – in the Simien Mountains and northeastern Shoa in the north, and in the Bale Mountains and the Arussi Mountains in the south. In the early 1990’s it was still reported from those areas plus Mt. Guna in the Gondar region of the north of Ethiopia and the Somkaro mountains in the south. The Ethiopian wolf currently is confined to seven isolated subpopulations in different mountain ranges of the Ethiopian highlands, at altitudes of 3,000 – 4,500 m (10,000 – 15,000′). In the northern highlands wolves are restricted to land above 3,500 – 3,800 m (11,000 – 12,000′) by increasing agricultural pressure. Wolf populations occur north of the Rift Valley in the Simien Mountains, Mount Guna, North Wollo and South Wollo highlands, and Menz. Southeast of the Rift Valley there are populations in the Arsi (formerly “Arussi”) Mountains and in the Bale Mountains. More than half of the species’ population lives in the Bale Mountains.
Each of the Ethiopian wolf’s habitat “islands” is surrounded by agricultural land occupied by farmers and their livestock. Associated domestic dogs either live in wolf habitat or make incursions into it and are the most likely reservoir of diseases that Ethiopian wolves could contract.
IUCN Status:
- 1970’s – 1994: Endangered
- 1996 – 2003: Critically Endangered
- 2004: Endangered
Population Estimates:
[Note: Figures given are for wild populations only.]
WORLD (Ethiopia)
- 1978: 500 in four populations
- 1983: 390 – 515 “plus a few”
- 1990: Under 1000
- 1992: 340 – 520 adults
- 1994: 500 adults
- 1997: 400 adults
- 2000: Fewer than 500 adults
- 2004: At least 442
Bale Mountains (Ethiopia)
- 1976: 350 – 475
- 1986: 700
- 1988: 450 – 600
- 1990: 440 – 470
- 1992: 205 – 270
- 1994-5: 100 – 150
- 2000: 200 – 250
- 2004: 250
Threats and Reasons for Decline:
Continuous loss of habitat due to high-altitude subsistence agriculture represents the major current threat to the Ethiopian wolf. Sixty percent of all land above 3,200 m (10,000′) has been converted into farmland, and all Ethiopian wolf populations below 3,700 m (12,000′) are particularly vulnerable to further habitat loss. Habitat loss is exacerbated by overgrazing of highland pastures by domestic livestock, and in some areas habitat is threatened by proposed development of commercial sheep farms and roads. Hybridization of the Ethiopian wolf with domestic dogs could threaten the genetic integrity of the Ethiopian wolf population, but hybridization is currently confined to one valley in western Bale.
In the late 1980’s, domestic dogs were recognized as a threat because they compete with the Ethiopian wolf for food; transmit diseases (such as rabies and canine distemper) and mate with the Ethiopian wolf, thereby hybridizing the species. The dogs are used by local pastoralists to protect their herds from hyenas. The dogs are irregularly fed and roam the highlands freely. They may be the most immediate threat faced by the Ethiopian wolf in Bale Mountains National Park, home of its largest remaining population.
