Craniometrical characteristics of wolves Canis lupus from Poland

Skulls of 145 adult wolves Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758 from two areas of the highest wolf density in Poland (78 from the Carpathian Mountains and 71 from the Białowieża Primeval Forest) were measured using 17 selected characters. Values of cranial characters measured were similar to those of previous studies from mid- dleastern Eurasia. Generally, wolf skulls were larger in the mountain than in the lowland population; males from the Carpathian Mountains were larger than that from the Białowieża Forest, however females were slightly smaller than that in the Biało­wieża Forest. On both areas males were larger than females, but a difference between sexes was much highly pronounced in wolves from the mountain population.