Brookfield Zoo has a spectacular habitat for the Mexican Grey Wolves called Regenstein Wolf Woods. I learned something while reading about them on the Zoo’s site:  “All the types of wolves you’ve heard of, like timber, gray, Arctic, and Mexican, belong to the same species: the gray wolf.”

The habitat is large and affords the wolves much privacy; the downside is they’re not always available for photographing.  We lucked out on one of our visits, though.

Nap time (in the very center of the image).

Again, from the Zoo:  “Mexican gray wolves were considered extinct in the wild until their reintroduction into Arizona and New Mexico in 1998.”  Brookfield successfully reintroduced the female they had to a wildlife park in New Mexico, and last year celebrated the birth of a litter of wolf cubs.  They even held a naming contest on their website!

They won’t, however, let one pet them.  ~pout~

This one is, admittedly, difficult to spot.  It’s the center knoll in their enclosure.  If you see the smaller tree in the foreground, travel up along its trunk to where the branches first start on the right of the trunk.  You’ll see the wolf centered in the branches.

Wolves have a strict hierarchical structure.  Whomever is at the highest point on the knoll is the alpha.

Another one arrives on the knoll for a nap.

The other wolves show deference to the alpha pair by lowering their heads and not making direct eye contact.

It’s fascinating to watch their body language as they move around.

At first, it seems this one is hiding.  Then one realizes that it is, in fact, capable of seeing pretty much everything in the field of view – me and my husband photographing them by the fence, the front of their enclosure, the pedestrian path beyond that gate, all the way to the bald eagle.

And when one looks back, they’re nearly invisible.  Camouflage.  ~shiver~

Check back tomorrow for the North American River Otter.  Or… not?  Stay tuned to find out!

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Thank you for joining me for the A-Z Blog Challenge.  If you’re blogging in the challenge, please leave me a link so I can come visit you too.  If you have a moment, please check out these other fine blogs:

My theme on my Knoontime Knitting craft blog is Letterforms In Nature and the Built Environment.  I’ll be exploring my daily round, looking for shapes in the natural world and build environment.

The theme at Noon & Wilder is The A To Z of Chicago.  Since I live here in the city and we have our Chicagoland Shifters based here, I figured I’d share a window into the city, Noon & Wilder style.

The Nice Girls Writing Naughty have a new home, and we’re blogging in the challenge again this year.  Throughout the month you’ll be hearing from each of the Nice Girls, and during the RT Booklovers Convention from April 12^th to the 17^th, you’ll be getting live convention reports.  Join the conversation!

The Writer Zen Garden’s brand new website is up and running, and we’re bringing you posts from me, Noony; my partner in crime, Rachel Wilder (the Wilder half of Noon & Wilder); the talented Darla M. Sands – a blogger in her own right, see below; as well as Grace Kahlo, Evey Brown, and author Tina Holland.  Check it out!

My friends who are participating in the challenge (and if you’re not on this list, tell me and I’ll add you!):

• Darla M. Sands, Awakening Dreams and Conquering Nightmares with a Pen
• Kari Trenten, The Cauldron of Eternal Inspiration

Write on, and Happy Blogging!