This is a copy of lobo (Wolf) what have you done 1,240 kilometers from Nordhorn (Germany)where he was born in 2020, hasta Vilaller (Alta Ribagorça, Lleida) in February 2023, via France in 2022.
The cooperation between Germany, France and Catalonia in monitoring the lobo and the comparison of samples in genetic laboratories, including that of the Molecular Genetics Veterinary Service of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), have made it possible to know the path of the individual.
The step of this lobo was discovered by the Special Canine Group of Rural Agents in the context of monitoring the lobo carried out by the Corps together with the Ministry of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda of the Generalitat.
The collaboration between Germany, France and Catalonia has made it possible to document in Europe one of the longest dispersal movements in the world ever recorded by any lobo (Wolf), thanks to the monitoring of the species in the field and also thanks to the collaboration between genetic laboratories of the three territories.
In particular monitoring lobo through molecular genetics implemented in Germany, France and Catalonia, as well as the scientific collaboration between three laboratories, including that of the Molecular Genetics Veterinary Service of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, has made it possible to discover that an individual of lobo traveled 1,240 km between its birthplace near Nordhorn (Alamanya) in 2020 and the municipality of Vilaller (Alta Ribagorça, Lleida), where it was last detected in February 2023, and passed through France in May 2022.
This is the largest spreading event of a lobo that has never been documented anywhere in the world. Previously, the longest straight-line distances ever recorded were 1,092 km between Norway and Finland, 880 km between Germany and Belarus in 2009, and 829 km between Switzerland and Slovakia in 2022-2023.
The discovery stems from the location a year ago of some feces found by the Special Caninoo Group (GEK9) of Rural Agents in the context of the wolf monitoring carried out by the Operational Corps and coordinated by Agent Gabriel Lampreave, together with the Department of Climate Action -, food and rural agenda of the Generalitat.
Particularly the feces lobo were discovered on February 13, 2023 in Alta Ribagorça thanks to the use of specially trained dogs from the Special Canine Group (GEK9) to identify the feces of large carnivores.
A male has been identified in this area since 2021, but automatic photographs during the winter of 2022-2023 provided elements that led us to suspect the presence of a possible second specimen. For this reason, prospecting efforts were increased, allowing a sample to be collected on the southern slope of the Pyrenees, in the municipality of Vilaller. The genetic analysis carried out by the laboratory of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) indicated a ‘w1’ lineage referring to the wolf population of Central and Eastern Europe, which was the first case of detection of this type in Spain.
In the context of a long collaboration between France and Catalonia in the field of monitoring the loboa sample was sent for analysis to the French laboratory Antagene, which confirmed the match with a person previously located in Burgundy, in eastern France. In concrete terms, it concerned the person whom scientists called GW1909m and who was previously also in Germany.
As of February 2023, no evidence of this person’s presence has been found in Alta Ribagorça (Lleida).
The wolf’s journey through France and Germany
the same lobo Detected in Catalonia, it was already located on June 17, 2022, when a driver saw a canine running along a road in the municipality of Fleurey-Les-Faverney (Haute Saone, France). He identified it as a canid, similar to a lobo, managed to take a photo and informed the local authorities. Thanks to this message, an official of the French Biodiversity Agency (OFB), member of the monitoring network of the species in France, managed to collect some hairs in a wire fence at the place where the witness indicated that he had crossed the border. lobo. These hairs were subjected to genetic analysis. The Antagene Reference Laboratory, charged with carrying out genetic analyzes of wolves in France, found the DNA haplotype called “w1”, which is quite unusual for wolves. lobos In France.
Because this individual had a genetic trait common in Germany and adjacent areas of Central and Northeastern Europe, a sample was sent to the German Reference Laboratory for cross-match analysis. Cross-validation showed that this sample perfectly matched a male name GW1909m by scientists, already known in the German genetic database.
Thanks to fecal samples analyzed there by the Senkerberg Research Institute in August 2020, it is known that GW1909m was born in a group located near Nordhorn (Lower Saxony), a few kilometers from the border with the Netherlands. The analysis allowed this person to be assigned to his birth group, where he was detected again in May 2021. Genetic evidence shows that GW1909m He must have been born in the spring of 2020, as his parent group did not reproduce before that year.
The wolf’s dispersal ability
Loose lobos (Wolf) are spreading across Europe thanks to strict legal protection since the late 1970s. The recolonization of new territories has taken place from Italy to the Alps and also from Central Europe to the plains of Germany and western Poland.
The species is known for its behavioral plasticity and long-distance dispersal ability, which can extend for hundreds of kilometers. He lobo GW1909m It is an example of the behavioral plasticity and physical capacity of this large wild canid. Its journey is especially impressive when you consider that the animal did not travel through large wilderness areas, but instead spread such long distances across the anthropic or anthropic landscapes of Western Europe.
Although the current fate of the GW1909mit remains to be seen whether future genetic analyzes will be able to detect this animal, or even its descendants, again.
The populations of Iberian, Italian and Central wolves They are still somewhat isolated, apart from a few documented cases of spread. Breeding events between these three genetic lineages of wolves have never been recorded until now, and scientists agree that these long-distance dispersal events are important for connecting distant wolf populations and preventing genetic isolation and inbreeding.
Wolf tracking in Catalonia
The populations of lobo They practically disappeared from Catalonia at the beginning of the 20th century. The first identifications began in 2003, especially in the Cadí and Ripollès areas. Twenty years later, there is no established breeding population of it in Catalonia lobos, although there is the presence of isolated individuals, these are animals resulting from the natural distribution of the wolf population in France; therefore all of Italian-Alpine origin.
There are currently four copies of it lobo genetically identified in Catalonia, all male; No female has been sighted in the past five years and therefore no evidence of reproduction.
The management of lobo On Catalan territory, this is carried out by the Directorate General for Environmental Policy and Natural Environment of the Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda of the Generalitat, while the Corps of Rural Agents of the Ministry of the Interior implements and implements the activities. coordinates the follow-up actions on site.