![]() ![]() Like dogs, they may bare their teeth and growl as a sign of aggression or a threat to stay away, hold their tail high to signal heightened attention or anxiety of some kind, or lower their body and tail or even roll over onto their back as a sign of submission to another pack member. Within a wolf pack, communicating successfully with each other is key to every member’s survival and well-being. If you’ve watched domestic dogs play, you already know something about how wolves communicate. Howling also establishes territorial boundaries. Clearly defined territorial boundaries reduce inter-pack fighting, and wolves constantly patrol and scent-mark their home turf. Alpha pairs allow the pack to work as if with one mind. The alphas are usually the ones with the strongest leadership skills and organize the pack to hunt as a group. In any pack there is only one alpha male and female, and often these two have pups. Wolf packs follow the cues of the head male and female, called the alphas. The average size of a pack is 8 or 9, but packs as large as 20 to 30 wolves have been found. A pack usually consists of an adult male and female and their pups. Wolves live in family groups called packs. They can break hard bones in just a few bites. Wolves can kill their prey effectively because they have incredibly strong jaws, which can bite through even the toughest of animal hides. When they find food, they eat as much as they can, because they may go for many days before eating again. Many times it is feast or famine for wolves. They often go after the old, young, or sick, since they are easier to kill. Wolves work as a team to attack herds of these large animals. In the wild, some observers have seen them eat small birds or mice, but they prefer larger prey such as goats, sheep, or deer. Wolves eat meat almost exclusively and feed on anything from mice to moose to musk oxen. Today, a large national park or wilderness area is where most wolves are found. Wolves tend to be cautious around people and avoid us if they can. Wherever wolves live, it is usually away from human beings. Depending on their habitat and prey availability, wolf territories can range from 40 to 1,000 square miles (10,360 to 258,999 hectares). All of their senses are keen, and they can run, climb, lope, and swim really well. They tolerate a wide range of temperatures, from -70 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (-50 to 48.8 degrees Celsius). Where are wolves found? Incredibly adaptable, wolves have inhabited, at one point, virtually all of North America, northern Europe, eastern Africa, and Asia. Ethiopian wolves are found only in the highlands of Ethiopia. but all of Canada as well as Europe and Asia and are split into several subspecies, including Arctic wolves and Australia’s dingoes, a subspecies that lives in just about any habitat there, from desert to rain forest. ![]() Gray wolves are the most widespread, inhabiting parts of the U.S. There are two wolf species in North America, the gray and the red. Their coat color runs the full black-white color spectrum, with tan and reddish brown thrown in as well. Desert dwellers like the Ethiopian wolf may weigh only 25 pounds (11 kilograms), but northern gray wolves like the tundra and Arctic wolf subspecies can reach 136 pounds (62 kilograms). But huskies are just another domestic dog breed, like a poodle or a golden retriever. There is another myth that some dog breeds, like the husky, are part wolf. However, these hybrids usually do not make good pets. Sometimes wolves and dogs interbreed, and the pups are called wolf hybrids. Wolves are still wild animals and should be treated as such. The dogs we have as pets have been bred to be gentle companion animals to humans. While wolves and dogs do share many biological traits, they are very different from each other. ![]() There are many stories of wolves being "wild dogs" that can be tamed. There are many wolf organizations and government agencies working to both save wolves and educate people about them. They aren’t even harmful to humans! Wolves belong to the same family of animals, Canidae, as the dog you may have as a family pet. In some places they are considered a vulnerable or endangered species. ![]() The misunderstood wolf: Most of us grew up hearing stories about the "big, bad wolf." But wolves are not really big or bad. ![]()
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