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Mexican Gray Wolf, Wichita, Kansas, 1996

"Mexican wolves, the most critically endangered subspecies in the lower 48, may have slipped from existence in the wild. However, a population of more than 175 have been bred in captivity [such as this pup in a Wichita zoo] from seven of the last known to exist. Federal biologists intend to start releasing some this year [1998] into national forestland spanning the Arizona-New Mexico border."

(Photographed on assignment for, but not published, in “Return of the Gray Wolf,” May 1998, National Geographic magazine)

Photograph by Joel Sartore