This article is classified "Real"
What Is A Wolf?
===============
A wolf is a large carnivorous mammal, and a member of the dog family.
Wolves come in a number of species and sizes, with 100 pounds being
considered large. Wolves in captivity can live to be 15 or 16 years old,
much like a domestic dog; this is unsurprising as the domestic dog has
been down bred over several millennia from original wolf stock. However,
in the wild, wolves are lucky to live beyond eight or nine years.
Wolves are similar in appearance to German Shepherd Dogs (Alsatians) but
with a shallower chest, broader head with a conspicuous ruff of hair around
cheeks, and with a shorter and thicker neck. The fur colouration varies
including grey/greyish fawn with brown-reddish colour on the back and the
head/ears (especially in Italy). Northern wolves may have a reddish tinge
on their head, ears, shoulders, and legs, but not on their backs.
Size
====
* Head & body length: 3-5 feet
* Tail length: 1-2 feet
* Hind foot length: 7-10 inches
* Shoulder height: 2-3 feet
* Weight, Male: 44-132 lbs
* Weight, Female: 40-110 lbs
Different Species
=================
There are two main species of wolf: the grey wolf (canis lupus), and the
red wolf (canis rufus) [APPENDIX 1]. All other wolves are subspecies of
these two species.
The grey wolf tribe is the most common, and includes such wolves as the
timber wolf [APPENDIX 2], tundra wolf, lobo wolf, and the arctic wolf
[APPENDIX 3].
Diet
====
Wolves are opportunistic feeders accustomed to a feast-famine existence.
They often go for many days without eating and then gorge as much as twenty
pounds in a single sitting, and as such will eat anything that moves. This
includes large prey such as: deer, elk, caribou and, in some areas, moose
and bison weighing up to 1000 pounds (ten times their own weight), rabbits,
rodents, birds, and carrion. Human garbage can be important in some areas
(such as Italy).
Red wolves have a broadly similar diet with more emphasis on the smaller
prey species.
A Wolf's Year
=============
Spring
------
Cubs born only to dominant female (ledrene). She is dependent upon the
rest of the pack for food for the next three weeks.
Within two months of birth, the cubs are weaned, and eating solid food.
They are now one third adult size.
Summer
------
When the cubs are eight to ten weeks old, the adults round them up and herd
them a few miles cross-country to a pre-chosen location. As soon as the
trip is over, the cubs, exhausted from their first long-distance foray,
flop down and go to sleep. For the next few months, this will be the
pack's summer home and open air nursery.
The parental care given by the leader and ledrene strongly imprints their
dominant position in the minds of the cubs. On growing up, they will find
it difficult to challenge their parent's authority. Their relationship is,
to the leader and ledrene, similar to the relationship between a dog puppy
and its owner. The cub treats its owner as if he or she is a dominant
wolf. Even when grown to full size and strength, the dog still regards its
owner as dominant.
Training in hunting techniques begins in late summer, when the pack starts
taking the cubs out to hunt with them.
Autumn
------
By now, the cubs will have received lessons on communication and marking
by scent, and on the meaning of territory. They will have discovered that
their pack lives in a well-defined area and that rival wolf packs have
territories in adjacent areas. This is a critical point to understand;
if a wolf trespasses into another pack's range, it may be killed.
The cubs will now be learning how to communicate through howling. Howling
enables packs to broadcast their claim to territory and discourage
trespassing.
The territorial system acts as a mechanism regulating wolf populations.
The number of good territories is limited, as is the number of wolves that
a territory can sustain. Under natural conditions, the availability of
space and food controls the wolf population.
Winter
------
Winter can be a time of relative plenty for wolves, as prey find it harder
to forage through the snow and are gradually weakened, lessening their
chances if hunted.
By now, the nine month old cubs are nearly adult size in body height, but
still need a year to fill out their frames.
For most packs, the breeding season starts in February. The first sign of
this is a dramatic renewal of pair bonding by the leader and ledrene. Both
of them forsake many of their normal activities so they can spend more time
together. They also become more aggressive towards other adults in the
pack, both challenging any wolves that attempt a mating. Normally the
ledrene succeeds, and she will be the only female to produce cubs.
Red Wolves (Canis Rufus)
========================
Red wolves are medium sized canids similar in appearance to coyotes, but
more robust [APPENDIX 1]. Their legs and ears are relatively long,
compared with the coyote's, and the colouration is similar, though more
tawny and coarser. Red wolves are slightly smaller than greys, with a more
slender elongated head and shorter, coarser fur. Unless otherwise stated,
all the facts in this article can be applied equally to grey and red
wolves. The map only shows the current distribution of grey wolves, as red
wolves are extinct in the wild.
The red wolf was once found throughout the south-eastern United States,
from the Atlantic coast to central Texas and from the Gulf Coast to central
Missouri and southern Illinois. Between the period of 1900 to 1920, red
wolves were exterminated from most of the eastern portion of their range.
A small number persisted in the wild in south-eastern Texas and
south-western Louisiana until the late 1970s. By 1980, it was determined
that the species was extinct in the wild.
The present red wolf population of at least 249 animals exists primarily in
captivity. Two hundred animals are located in 22 captive breeding
facilities in the United States.
Distribution
============
Key To Map [APPENDIX 4]
1) Melville Island Wolf.
2) [APPENDIX 5] Mexican Wolf.
3) Banks Island Tundra Wolf.
4) British Columbian Wolf.
5) Vancouver Island Wolf.
6) Hudson Bay Wolf.
7) Labrador Wolf.
8) Alexander Archipelago Wolf
9) [APPENDIX 2] Eastern Timber Wolf.
10) Mackenzie Tundra Wolf.
11) Baffin Island Tundra Wolf.
12) Interior Alaskan Wolf.
13) Alaska Tundra Wolf.
14) Tundra Wolf.
15) (unnamed) Canis Lupus Arabs.
16) Steppe Wolf.
17) Tibetan Wolf.
18) Common Wolf.
19) (unnamed) Canis Lupus Pallipes.
"Fear the loping wolves
They hunt with cold confidence
Deer should flee in haste."
- Japanese haiku graffiti, Rasalhague University
References
==========
* A Society Of Wolves, Rick McIntyre
* Mammals Of Britain And Europe, David MacDonald & Priscilla
Barrett
* Wolf Haven Web Site
(http://www.teleport.com/~wnorton/wolf.shtml)
* Boomerwolf Web Site (http://www.boomerwolf.com/begin.html)
* EE Link Environmental Education on the Internet
(http://www.nceet.snre.umich.edu/EndSpp/optiredwolf.html)
(http://www.oit.itd.umich.edu/bio/doc.cgi/Chordata/Mammalia/
Carnivora/Canidae/Canisrufus.ftl)
* Map courtesy of National Geographic Society
(http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/maps)
Attached documents:
Picture of a Red Wolf
Picture of a Timber Wolf
Picture of an Arctic Wolf
Map showing distribution of wolves
Picture of a Mexican Wolf
