COLORADO PARKS & WILDLIFE

Wolves are bigger, stockier and have a longer tail than other canids (e.g., foxes and coyotes).

Despite their name, gray wolves may be white, tawny gray or black, or any combination of those colors. Approximately half of any gray wolf population is actually gray. Adult male gray wolves typically weigh between 90 and 110 pounds, and may exceed 5 feet in length from nose to tail tip. Adult females typically weigh between 80 and 90 pounds and can be 5 feet long.

Pups are born with black spots on the upper outside of their tails, which may fade with age. Young wolves may resemble coyotes or some larger domestic dogs. However, wolves can be distinguished from most coyotes and dogs by their longer legs, larger feet, wider head and snout, shorter ears, narrow body and straight tail. Coyotes are 1.5 feet tall, and 4 feet long, weighing between 20-50 pounds.

Coyote or Gray Wolf: How to Spot the Differences

• Wolf heads/faces are broader, and ears are rounder than the coyote’s narrower face and tail, and pointed ears.

• Apparent sightings of wolf tracks often are a case of mistaken identity. Dog and coyote paw prints can be mistaken for wolf tracks. Adult wolf prints are larger than dog and coyote prints. An average-sized wolf makes a track about 5 inches long (without claws) and 3 to 4 ½ inches wide. Coyotes are considerably smaller and narrower.

• Although some dog breeds can have tracks greater than 4 inches in length, in general, if a 4-inch or greater canid track is observed, the probability that it may be a wolf is increased. Due to some overlap in size or the substrate the track was made in, tracks identification can be challenging. It is recommended to follow the tracks out, if possible, to obtain additional measurements, to look for other signs that may be in the area, and to identify the general travel path as wolves tend to travel in a straight line whereas domestic dogs tend to weave more.

Please report all sightings to Colorado Parks and Wildlife using our wolf sighting form.

To ensure the most credible information, please try to provide a photo or video, provide exact location coordinates or other detailed information for confirmation purposes.

The wolf pack is an extended family unit that includes a dominant male and female. In each pack, there is usually only one breeding pair, preventing subordinate adults from mating by physically harassing them. Thus, most packs produce only one litter of four to six pups each year. A pack typically includes the breeding pair, the young wolves born that year, perhaps last year’s young and sometimes a few older wolves that may or may not be related to the breeding pair.

Aggressive behavior from wild wolves towards humans is rare.

Similar to black bears and mountain lions, wild wolves are shy of people and avoid contact with them whenever possible. However, any wild animal can be dangerous if it is cornered, injured or sick, or has become habituated to people through activities such as artificial feeding. People should avoid actions that encourage wolves to spend time near people or become dependent on them for food. If camping or hiking with pets, keep them on a 6-foot leash and secured at all times.

The gray wolf remains listed as endangered in Colorado regardless of the federal designation. State law allows for the protection of human safety if there is an immediate threat from any endangered or threatened species. However, these situations are extremely rare and would be thoroughly investigated. Additionally, although rare, state and federal land management agencies can remove or kill a wolf that presents a demonstrable, non-immediate threat to human safety.

Wolves are predators, and generally feed on ungulates in the wild. However, wolves are opportunistic hunters and may kill pets and other farm animals such as alpacas and chickens. In general, techniques used to reduce depredation risk on private property from other predators may also be effective at minimizing risks associated with possible wolf depredations.

See Keeping Your Pets Safe Where Wolves are Present.

Wolves will be managed within Colorado using a phased approach based on the minimum number of animals known to be present in the state. These phases will correspond with the status of the species on the Colorado Threatened and Endangered Species list. There is no wolf population objective in the final management and restoration plan.

Currently, wolves are State Endangered. Wolves will be downl​isted from State Endangered (Phase 1) to State Threatened (Phase 2) when CPW biologists document a minimum wintertime count of 50 wolves anywhere in the state for four successive years. Wolves will be delisted from the State Threatened and Endangered species list and classified as delisted, nongame (Phase 3) when a minimum count of at least 150 wolves anywhere in Colorado is observed for 2 successive years, or a minimum count of at least 200 wolves anywhere in Colorado is observed, with no temporal requirement.

At the time future Commissions are considering delisting, CPW will conduct a Population Viability Analysis, or similar population modeling effort. This would be done to assess the extinction probability of the wolf population in Colorado, using Colorado-specific demographic parameters gained from research and monitoring the population in the state in the years between reintroduction and recovery.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated the wolf population in Colorado as “Experimental” which relaxes take prohibitions. As a federally listed species, there is a strict prohibition against regulated hunting and other forms of take.

Visit our Wolf Management page for additional information about species management in the state.