Another common name for the Mexican wolf is lobo.
The name comes from the Spanish lobo, meaning “wolf,” and is often used as a shortened form of lobo mexicano, or “Mexican wolf.” In scientific classification, the animal is Canis lupus baileyi, a subspecies of the gray wolf rather than a separate species under the standard modern taxonomy.
Mexican wolves are the smallest of North America’s gray-wolf subspecies and have historically ranged through parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and northern Mexico. Their dark, variable coats and relatively narrow skulls help distinguish them from some neighboring wolf populations.
Lobo can cause confusion because the term has also been applied to the Great Plains wolf. In a question specifically asking for the Mexican wolf’s common name, however, “lobo” is the expected answer. The phrase lobo mexicano is the fuller Spanish name.