Sarah E. Rinkevich

For my dissertation, I will be assessing a population estimate of Mexican gray wolves (Canis lupus baileyi) on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation and the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservations.  Prey selection of reintroduced Mexican wolves as well as mountain lions (Puma concolor), black bears (Ursus americanus), coyotes (C. latrans) on Fort Apache Indian and San Carlos Apache Reservations will also be assessed. Because the San Carlos Apache Tribe has been vigilant in keeping wolves off their Tribal lands, diet of large carnivores will be the primary focus on San Carlos. Concerns regarding cattle mortality have sparked strong opposition to reintroduction and reestablishment of Mexican gray wolves by the both Apache Tribes. I will thus assess the cultural significance of the wolf in Apache culture. 

Non-invasive sampling will be used.  Scat samples from large carnivores will be collected throughout the San Carlos and Fort Apache Indian Reservations.  Because of the size of the Reservation, scat detection dogs will be used.  Tribal members will be hired as field technicians.  Scat samples will be kept frozen and later thawed and then scrapped for sloughed epithelial cells so that DNA can be extracted. When extracting DNA from non-invasive sources such as scat, both mitochondria and nuclear DNA are obtained. Mitochondria DNA is used for species identification and nuclear DNA is used for individual identification. To perform species identification, or individual identification, the DNA will be amplified using the polymerase chain reaction. All laboratory procedures will be performed at the University of Arizona.

Prey selection of wolves and reliable population estimates are needed in order for the San Carlos and White Mountain Apache Tribes to manage wolves released by the Fish and Wildlife Service as part of a reintroduction effort.  Adequate knowledge about the wolf in historic and contemporary Apache culture is lacking, and opposition by the Apaches to reintroduced wolves occupying their Tribal lands has been frustrating to biologists attempting to recover the wolf from its status as an endangered species. The ethnozoological examination of the wolf takes a novel approach using cultural consensus theory based on "shared knowledge" to gain a greater knowledge of the relationship of the wolf with the Apache people.