DULUTH - For more than a month now along Lake Superior's North Shore highway, people have reported sightings of an animal bearing an uncanny resemblance to a hyena.

"It's hard to say just why, but that's what it looks like," said Kathi Johnson, of Hovland, Minn., which is northeast of Grand Marais. She has seen the animal twice while driving near her home. "It's this weird-looking gray animal, and it reminds you of that hyena in the 'Lion King.' "

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But on Wednesday, international wolf expert L. David Mech was shown some fairly clear pictures of the animal, and he said it appears to be an ordinary timber wolf. "It just looks like a wolf with mange," said Mech, who has studied wolves in the wild for more than 40 years and is considered one of the world's foremost experts on them.