Tracking what's alive on Earth and what affects it.
Humans, now
On the wall: 1,000 or fewer left in the wild
Mexican wolf
at least319
At least this many
December 2025
Canis lupus baileyi
Arizona and New Mexico, USA (a separate reintroduced population in Mexico is not included)
Counted December 2025, by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team.
At least 319 Mexican wolves were known alive in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico as of 31 December 2025: a minimum, not a total, counted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team.
At least 319 Mexican wolves lived in the wild in December 2025. Illegal killing, known or suspected, is the most common documented cause of their deaths.
How it was counted
The number comes from the yearly count across Arizona and New Mexico by the Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team: the wolves known alive in the wild, a minimum, not an estimate of the total. It covers wild wolves in the United States only.
The number is a minimum, not an estimate of the total: at least 319 wolves were known alive in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico.
Earlier figures
- 286 on 31 December 2024: the previous count. Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team (population statistics, data current as of 31 Dec 2025).
What moves it
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's records name these pressures: illegal killing (known or suspected illegal shooting or trapping) and vehicle collisions among documented deaths, and wolves removed from the wild for livestock reasons.
- illegal killing (known or suspected illegal shooting or trapping): 173 of 343 documented deaths from 1998 to 2025, 12 of them in 2025.
Illegal mortality causes of death may include but are not limited to known or suspected illegal shooting with a firearm or arrow
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. - vehicle collisions: 45 of 343 documented deaths from 1998 to 2025.
Causes of Documented Mexican Wolf Mortalities 1998-2025
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. - removals from the wild for livestock reasons: 110 of 283 management removals from 1998 to 2025, 8 of them in 2025.
Causes of Mexican wolf management removals 1998-2025
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Who is helping
The Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team (the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with state, federal and tribal partners) runs the yearly count across Arizona and New Mexico, and fits radio collars and gives health checks to the wolves it captures. The team also does non-lethal work to keep wolves away from cattle.
The next count
The count is annual. No date for the next count is known as of 12 November 2026.
Sources
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team (population statistics, data current as of 31 Dec 2025) Last checked 12 November 2026.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Mexican Wolf Population Statistics, Mortality 2025 Last checked 12 November 2026.
- Mexican Wolf Population Statistics, Removals 2025 Last checked 12 November 2026.
- Counting Mexican Wolves Last checked 12 November 2026.
What changed
- 12 November 2026 Added to Live Species, on the wall (1,000 or fewer): At least 319 (At least this many, December 2025).
Next on the wall
The letter
The letter comes once a month, on the first Thursday. It gives what changed on Live Species, one animal up close and the humans figure for contrast.