Mo Ganji: Sicilian Wolf | Sizilianischer Wolf | Canis lupus cristaldii | No. EX 009/012 from work group 8/99

Sicilian Wolf | Sizilianischer Wolf | Canis lupus cristaldii (Extinct)

Mo Ganji turns toward the Sicilian wolf — a medium-sized terrestrial carnivore once inhabiting the forests and mountainous regions of Sicily — by letting the single line move toward essence rather than ferocity, folklore or persecution. The line condenses the being into a reduced coherence, setting aside teeth, movement and threat so that presence can surface without depiction. In Ganji’s understanding, the line does not belong to the wolf alone; it remains open, reminding us that every form is also a human concept provisionally placed upon a living continuum.

Canis lupus cristaldii is listed as Extinct (EX) on the IUCN Red List. This subspecies of the gray wolf survived on Sicily until the late 19th or very early 20th century, with the last confirmed individuals killed around 1920. Isolated from mainland populations, the Sicilian wolf evolved distinct morphological traits and occupied a limited ecological range.

The principal causes of extinction included intensive persecution driven by fear and livestock conflict, habitat loss through deforestation, and the decline of natural prey. As human settlement expanded and forests were cleared, wolves were systematically hunted and eradicated. Isolation prevented recolonization, and no effective protections were implemented before the population collapsed.

Ganji’s single line opens a space in which the wolf can be encountered beyond menace or myth. It allows the being to be perceived as a life once embedded in a shared landscape, suggesting how extinction often follows the framing of coexistence as conflict — until removal becomes normalized and absence is mistaken for resolution.