The Howling Wolf: Wolf Info

Wolf Info

The Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) is a fascinating animal. Not only is it beautiful and cunning, but it is much like human beings, in its intelligence, sociality, and hunting prowess. Many Native American tribes believed that wolves taught humans how to hunt and live in social groups.

The Body of a Wolf
Wolves are usually about 5 feet long including the tail and their shoulder is about 2.5 feet high. Female wolves weigh between 55 and 90 pounds and males weigh between 75 and 150 pounds. Wolves have heads that are about 20% larger than dogs compared to their body size, which many biologists take to mean that they are smarter.
In the Arctic, a wolf's fur is almost always pure white, and in other climates it's fur can vary greatly, although it is usually a mixture of shades of gray and brown. Generally wolves that live in forests have darker fur than those that live in the open.
Wolves have good vision (compared to most animals) and an excellent sense of hearing and smell. Wolves can smell a deer more than a mile away.
A wolf's mouth is specially designed to efficiently kill prey and tear up meat. Their jaws are extremely strong, and they have 42 teeth, four of which are the long fangs in the front of their mouth, used to grab at prey and wound them. In the front they have small, sharp teeth used to pull away skin, in the side they have sharp teeth for cutting through muscle, and in the back they have flat teeth that crush bone to be swallowed.
Wolves can eat up to 20 pounds of meat at a time, but can also go without food for several weeks without losing too much of their strength.

The Pack
Wolves live in groups called packs that can range from only 5 to 20 or more members. Most members are usually related to one another in some way, such as a son or a daughter that is full grown but remains in their parent's pack, but some members are not related to any others.
Packs are organized in a social hierarchy, with the Alpha male and female at the top and each wolf with its own rank down the Omega Wolf, who is often treated poorly by higher ranking members, and kept from a kill until the others have had their fill. Sometimes the Omega Wolf is driven away by the other pack members and becomes a lone wolf. A lone wolf may meet up and mate with another lone wolf and start a pack.
Each pack has its own territory, the size of the territory depending on how available prey is. If prey is abundant, the area might be as small as 30 square miles, but if it is scarce, it might be as large as 200 square miles. Wolves mark their territory by urinating on rocks or stumps. If other wolves invade the territory, they might get in a fight with the resident wolves.

Communication
Wolves use a wide variety of body signals and sounds to communicate with each other. The most important body signal that wolves use is their stance. A higher-ranking wolf meeting with a lower-ranking wolf will stand tall with its head and ears held up high and its tail out. The lower-ranking wolf will crouch down, hold its ears flat against its head, and kept its tail between its legs.
Sounds such as growls are used to threaten and warn another wolf and barks and yips are used to alert attention to something. Howls, the best known sound of the wolf, are used for four reasons. These reason are: to gather together before or after a hunt, to warn other wolves to stay out of their territory, to locate pack members, and simply because they enjoy it, like we enjoy singing. Sometimes a human imitation of a wolf howl provokes wolves to answer.

Young
The mating season for wolves is during the winter, and the gestation period is about 65 days, so that the pups are born in spring. Only the Alpha pair is allowed to have pups. Before the pups are born, the mother searches for a suitable den. She may use the previous year's den, or she may make a new one by selecting a location on high ground near a source of water and digging out enough space underground or widening another animal's abandoned hole. After a den is found, she gives birth, to anywhere between one and ten pups.
When the pups are born, they weigh about a pound and are blind and deaf. For about three weeks, they drink only their mother's milk, and then they begin eating small amounts of meat regurgitated by adult wolves. After two months they move out of the den and live in the open all summer while the adults bring them meat. By fall they begin helping with the hunts.

Hunting
Like humans, wolves hunt together cooperatively. They travel together through their territory keeping an eye out for suitable prey. When they find an animal that they might be able to kill, they first sneak up to it quietly, and when they are close enough, they begin to chase it. Sometimes they will take turns chasing the prey, one chasing for a ways, then another coming from the opposite direction, chasing it back the other way. They do this until the prey is worn out and then they attack.
Usually, they can't catch their prey, but often, according to one study it is once every thirteen chases, they are able to catch it, and this is often enough to kept the whole pack well fed. When they catch up to the prey, they lunge at it and clamp their jaws onto its throat, snout, or the back of the leg.
The favorite prey of wolves is hoofed animals, such as deer, elk, caribou, musk-oxen, and buffalo, but wolves also hunt smaller animals such as rabbits, beavers, voles, and mice. Wolves sometimes hunt healthy adult animals, but more often they hunt the young, the old, and the sick or injured. Although they do this simply because it is easier, this also helps the population of prey because it gives the remaining ones more room and access to food, and weeds out those with genes that make them more susceptible to wolves.