As a species, the North American gray wolf (Canis Lupus) is characterized by high mobility. The historical range of the gray wolf is the largest of any extant terrestrial mammal. The expanse of their biogeographical range also encompasses a variety of ecosystems: from dense forest to open grassland; and even as drastically from Arctic tundras to extreme deserts (Geffen et. al 2004). This broad range effectively classifies this species as habitat generalists. Albeit, even though the gray wolf (Canis lupus) has the potential to be ubiquitous in a variety of ecosystems does not mean that it is actually present in each of those ecosystems. This is because the distribution patterns of large carnivores like the gray wolf (Canis lupus) are strongly influenced by environmental discontinuity, human persecutions and other human activities (De La Ville et. al 1998). The implication of these sensitivities is that the realized niche, the range it actually occupies, is significantly smaller than its fundamental niche, the total amount of habitat it could utilize in theory. Finally, when we consider other factors such as habitat fragmentation by way of human encroachment, insurmountable topographic barriers such as mountains ranges and large bodies of water, and reluctance to disperse across these barriers, the final range that the gray wolf(Canis lupus) has to exist in is in grave danger.
