The Greenland wolf (Canis lupus orion), is a possibly subspecies of the gray wolf native to Greenland. The subspecies is described as being small to medium in stature, but extremely light in weight. However, this understanding of the size of the Greenland wolf is derived from only five specimens that were caught in winter, so their light weight could be attributed to malnutrition. The original evolution of the Greenland wolf appears to have come about from a predecessor to modern northern wolf subspecies, of which a pack or number of packs became stranded on Peary Land in northern Greenland, due to the Wisconsin glaciation period. After the ice sheets had receded, the subspecies began moving south into the rest of Greenland and also west onto the Queen Elizabeth Islands.