It seems as if everywhere you go in the shifter community you see a wolf, right? Wolves here, wolves there, and even though some may claim to be different werewolf breeds they still all happen to be wolves. Why? What's the reason for this? Surely there must be shifters of other animal types, right?

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It's important to note that werewolves are common even in mythology; this discrepancy has been around for ages! I do believe there are several reasons as to why this might be the case.​

 

Shifting is mass-limited

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Unlike therianthropy, in which a person can theoretically identify as any animal in existence, a shifter can only shift into certain animals due to the Law of Conservation of Mass. This means that any animal one shifts into must be physically similar in mass and weight to the human body. There is some leeway, but only to a certain point- while someone could shift into a fox that's essentially the same weight and mass they are, they couldn't shift into a hummingbird or a mouse. Since there is an inherent physical limit, there's already a limited amount of animals a person could shift into, including bears, cats, hyenas, and much of the canine family.

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Wolves are numerous​

 

There are wolves in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Arctic. They are common canines and they are widespread enough even as an animal species, so assuming this correlates to shifting this would explain why they're everywhere. Tigers are limited to the Asian continent. Hyenas, apes, and lions are limited to the African continent. Pumas and grizzlies are North American. It may be less likely that a person shifts into a lion if their ancestors are 100% Scottish and don't have any recent African ancestry.

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It's more likely that even disregarding the continent there are more wolves, simply because wolves are everywhere naturally, and because even when shifting it's easy to mistake some wild canids (like coyotes and jackals) for a wolf form.

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Wolves and their kin are an adaptable generalist species

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What I mean by this is that it may be easier to survive and exist as a wolf in nature than as other species. Many canine species can adapt to both cold and hot weather conditions, and while other species can also do this, it may be harder for them to survive long-term if they had to as their species, compared to wolves. A bonobo cannot survive in cold weather nor can it handle stress well without becoming sick. Shifting into a lion helps if you're in a hot climate, or where lions roam free, but causes you to stand out if you're outside of Africa. It may help short-term to shift into a deer and escape danger, but long-term it may be hard to determine what is and isn't healthy plant matter, and herbivorous animals who aren't sure of themselves sometimes attract the attention of predatory animals. As a wolf a person could run from danger, hunt or scavenge for meat, and would be less likely to attract attention from predatory animals, as they used to be the top predator in many parts of the world.

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Wolves know who they are first

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This is common in any nonhuman community. The most seen and talked about creature in society is the one most people tend to claim to be, and when it comes to animals wolves are it. The same can be said for mythological creatures such as dragons and unicorns, as many people do claim to be those as well. With so much media surrounding wolves and werewolves, is it any wonder that the wolves know who they are first? Now, not everybody who claims to be a wolf IS a wolf, as some may be roleplayers or confused, and others may be guessing but shift into a completely different animal. However, if they suspect they are a shifter of sorts they may most likely pursue "werewolf" feelings for answers and go with that until they shift, not the less obvious "you're a werebaboon" feelings.

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Human activity may have disturbed the distribution of different shifter types​

 

As we all know history happens, and humans get displaced in conflict, killed in wars, and occasionally targeted for genocide. If some ethnic groups are being interfered with and those groups happen to have people who can shift, their ability may be lost as those people are hurt or killed and their offspring targeted. Now, this isn't to say that people were purposefully hunting down shifters, just that in conflicts with other groups of people some shifters may have been casualties, and thus have no future generations who can show off their shifting ability.

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We may not be seeing the other kinds of shifters in the world

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It may also be possible that wolves simply are more numerous because we're not talking to the rest of the world. In Asia the concept of a werefox is known, as well as weretigers and fox shapeshifters. If most of the weretigers are in Asia and are on Asian platforms of course we won't see or know of them, and it will look like shifter are only really wolves. Conversely, they may be wondering where all the werewolves and werehyenas are and why there are tigers and foxes everywhere. Even understanding that people travel from place to place and aren't always in the place they originally came from, wouldn't it be likely that a weretiger might feel as if they'd have better luck finding others in their country? Wouldn't many feel comfortable talking to others nearby, instead of people overseas?​

 

Some shifters may also not have access to the internet and be unable to talk to others, and some may just not be interested. After all, there IS stigma about this in many other parts of the world, so shifters who have shifted once or twice might keep it a secret to avoid getting bothered or threatened by others.​

 

Thus, I believe (were)wolves and wolf shifters are common due to a few key factors. They're not common solely because wolves are cool, but because wolves are numerous in the real world as well and because there are physical limitations (mass issues, geography) as well as social, that prevent the rest of shifters from being as prevalent on the internet.