Basically, the alpha male and female mate, but sometimes, the alpha male will let the second place, or beta wolf, breed the alpha female. Wolves begin mating when they are two or three years old, but sometimes, they mate for life. Gray wolves mate from Jauary-April from low altitude to higher altitude. The alpha pair has an average of six pups born in early spring every year. They have a den or an existing shelter or structure, sometimes with chambers and connecting tunnels in which to rear their pups. The six pups depend on their mother for milk during the first month. After that, the pups are gradually weaned from the milk. When the pups are seven to eight months of age, the pups are fully grown. When they reach this age, the pups begin to hunt with the adults. After one or tow years of age, a young wolf will leave his pack and try to form a pack of his own. The survival of the pack depends on the social order to raise the hunting distinguished bravery. The alphas accomplishes the wise use of power not by punishment.
A territory is where a pack lives in a specific area. The size of the territory depends of the availability of the pry. The pack claims its territory by its scent. The pack leader urinates on objects in the boundary of their territory. Wolf packs hunts in a specific territory. The territories are as large as 50 square miles, or they may exted to 1,000 square miles, and this land depends on the food that is available. The wolves may travel up to 30 miles a day for good. They can travel up to 5 miles an hour and obtain speeds up to 45 mils hour. Over big areas, the wolves ability to hunt lies in their determination to see out vulnerable prey. The wolf earned the hunter ability as the respect of the Eskimos and the Native Americans. The white man named the wolf the beast of waste and desolation. The gray wolf ranges from coast to coast from Canada to Mexico. The gray's territory is very large. Their territory ranges from 20-5,000 square miles (52-13,000 sq Km). The wolf's territories are marked by urine, faeces, ad by wild scratching in the dirt. The wolf marks their trailes they use. The wolf's scent stations are about 100 yards (91 m) apart.
Dogs can take training courses and can be housebroken. Wolves do not train well and cannot be housebroken. This is part of their territorial nature, and this will eliminate their territorial marking. Wolf-hybrids can fall anywhere between these two extremes.
Wolf communication is very important among wolves. Among wolves, communications is all in the p osition of the ears, tail, and lips. A dominant-agressive wolf or a relaxed but alter wolf carries his ears up while the fearful or submissive wolf pins his ears back against the skull. A submissive wolf puts his tail between his legs while an agressive wolf carris his tail straight behind. A fighting wolf curls his lips back fully, shows his teeth, stares, and raises his hackles, and the wolf may growl, or he may not growl. Submissive wolves know who their dominant wolves are as they avoid eye contact with the dominant members. Submissive wolves may grovel at the dominant wolves or mimic cub behavior to show inferiority. The mystery of the wolf is its distinctive howl. To a wolf, howling is part of their communications among other wolves. The howl may com: 1) before or after a hunt, 2) sound off an alarm, 3) to locate other members of the pack when their is a split up, and 4) some other reasons that we don't seem to understand. In the evening, they howl more thanin the early morning during winter breeding and pup-rearing. This may account with a mistaken association with the moon. Other reasons for howling are: 1) calling the pack together, 2) signaling their presence to others, and 3) designates the start of scent marking. The wolf's howl can be heard for long distances. The mountains that are surrounding the wolf's howl sends the echoes to prolong the sound's eeire beauty. Visual and auditory are tow of the many communication methods wolves use among their pack. Wolves visual signals are: 1) tail posture, 2) ear position, 3) facial expression, and 4) body attitude. Whimpering and whining are other sounds the wolves make among their pack. Whimpering is used for the sound of intimacy when greeting one or submission.
Wolves howl for many reasons, including the following: (Robert H. Busch, The Wolf Almanac, 47-48)
The USA government has classified the wolf as an Endangered Species in all the states except Alaska and Minnesota. The wolves are on the Endangered Species Act of 1973. This act involves animals and plants which are in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. Wolves are endangered species wherever they live except Alaska, the Canadian Arctic, and the subarctic. In Alaska, the Canadian Arctic, and the subarctic, wolves thrived in the midst of hundres of thousands of caribou. Wolves are trying to be reintroduced in their former territory to be natural predators for deer, elk, and other hoofed animals with blooming population. Wolves have its adaptations to its climate extremes. The wolf has homes in the desserts of Israel, the swamps of Florida, and the frozen Arctic of Siberia. A small population exists in Minnesota of about 1,600. In Lake Superior, there is less than 20 gray wolves. There are about 40 gray wolves in Wiconsin. In Montana, there are about 50 gray wolves. There are less than 15 gray wolves in Idaho. The number is low but unknown in Washington. The gray wolf population fluctuate because of lack of food and conflict within the pack. In the Endangered Species Act, the wolf is listed as a threatened animal in Minnesota. Also, the animal is endangered in the lower 48 states. Wolves are not considered or threatened in Alaska. The reason is because the population number is between 5,900-7,200.
Again I must repeat this phrase due to the importance of its nature, the Canis lupus or wolf is an endangered species. When you capture a wild wolf for any purpose, you are capturing the wol fillegally. Before it became illegal, people were establishing wolves as a colony and reproducing wolf-hybrids.
The timber wolf lives in wooded, subarctic regions. The tundra wolf lives on treeless plains of the Arctic. Zoologists believe there are another species of the wolf called the red wolf. The red wolf lives in Louisian and Texas. The red wolf is almost extinct. A red wolf is a very rare species which live in the southeastern part of the United States. The wolf can live in any kind of climate. The wolves are usually found in deserts or tropical forests. The wolf roamed through the northern half of the world in ancient times. When large numbers of people settled, they destroyed wolves. They live in sparsely populated nothern regions. Such as: 1) Alaska, 2) Minnesota, 3) Canada, 4) China, and 5) Russia. Wolves of small numbers still inhabit wilderness areas. Such as: 1) Greece, 2) India, 3) Mexico, 4) Spain, and 5) other countries. Siberian Huskies and the timber wolf looks much a like. Team spirit and cooperation are displayed by the timber wolves through a hunt.
The coyote is smaller than a wolf and is a relative of the wolf. The coyote is seen alone and less social than a wolf. The coyote feeds on small animals. Such as: 1) rabbits, and 2 ) mice. The coyotes do not hunt in groups or packs like wolves. The only way the coyote will socialize is when they are a breeding pair.
The gray, timber, and red wolf are the largest members of the dog family. The red wolf is known as the Canis rufus. The gray wolf was once the most prevalent animal living outside the tropics. The gray wolf lives in few regions in Europe and Asia. The red wolf might be extinct. This is due to the result of hybridization with migrating coyotes.
Jackals also belongs to the dog family. The golden jackal is also known as Canis aureus. They roamed in North and East Africa, southeast Europe, and south Asia. There are about 1,600 jackals. The golden jackal is bigger than the red wolf. The gold jackals also live in packs of 20 members. They eat small things such as mammals, bird, reptiles, amphibians, and carrion. Sometimes, they kill larger carnivores. The black-backed jackal is also know as the Canis mesomelas. The side-striped jackal is also known as the Canis adustus. Both of theses jackals live in southern Africa.
The magnificent mane is also known as Chrysocyan brachurus or the maned wolf. This particular wolf lives in South American in southern Brazil to Argentina. They have a pointed muzzle and large erect ears. The back of their neck stands erect when the animal scents danger. They have reddish-brown hair, but their mouth, back and tail or black, and their chin, tail and throat are white mostly. Their diet includes wild guinea pigs, rabbits, burrowing rodents, pacas, agoutis, rodents who are fast running, insects, reptiles, brids, fruits, sugar cane, and other plants. The maned wolf hunts alone for food like the coyote. Modest and nightly animals are the maned wolves, but they rather stay alone and be together during the mating season. The maned wolf is a distant relative of the wolf(gray) even though with the foxlike features. There wolves are cautious of man and
Canis dirus is a specific name for the dire wolf. They lived 1,600,000-10,000 years ago in the Pleistocene Epoch. The dire wolf was preserved at the La Brea Tar Pits in southern California. The dire wolf was larger and had a more large skull to a smaller brain, and light limbs than the modern day wolf.
For the wolves to be successful, they have to depend on large tracts of habitat and substantial populations of their principal prey species. Wolves have 3 major threats. The three threats are: 1) disease, 2) in-breeding with dogs, and 3) man. There were about 20,000 wolves 300 years ago in Wisconsin. Now, wolves just diminished/risen to 100 in the north in 1957. In 1957, the laws were changed, but it was to late because the wolves were already gone.
In the last 75 years, there have been seven subspecies of wolves that have been extinct. The Newfoundland white wolf is called Canis lupus bethucus. This particular wolf died in 1911. The Shamanu, which is a Japanes wolf, is called Canis lupus hodophilax. This particular wolf was hunted in extinction in 1905. This wolf was small in size for a wolf. This wolf was 14 in. (35.6 cm) at the shoulder and was smaller than a dog.
Currently, there are approximately 100,000 wolves in the wild. In Canada, there are approximately 60,000 gray wolves. This is just a vast majority. In Russia, there are 30,000 gray wolves. In Europe, there are 5,000 gray wolves. In the USA, there are 10,000 gray wolves, and most of them are in Alaska and Minnesota. In Alaskas, there are about 7,000 gray wolves. In Minnesota, there are about 2,000 gray wolves. The gray wolf is one of the largest canids in the wild.
Some of the many names of the gray wolf include the timber wolf, the tundra wolf, the Arctic Wolf, the buffalo wolf, the lobo wolf, etc. Some of these names refert to certain subspecies. The subspecies are Canis lupus tundrarium which means Alaskan tundra wolf or the Mexican wolf, or Canis lupus baileyi.
There are three extinct wolves. They are the dire wolf, the marsupial wolf, and the Falkland Island Wolf.
Four different scent marks described by researchers are: 1) raised-leg urinations, 2) squat-position urination, 3) defecation, and 4) scratching.
Long distance traveled by wolves include:
Robert H. Busch, The Wolf Almanac, 72
Wolf's survival skills were generated by many Indians legends. An Eskimo legend was that a woman who was left abandoned and was forced to survive on her own finally turned into a wolf. This translates into Qisaruatsiaq in Eskimo legend.
The pure white wolves were adored by many of the Indian tribes. The white wolves had unbelievable powers.
The wolf was called shunk manity tanka by the Sioux Indian tribe. The name means the animal that looks like a dog but is a powerful spirit.
The Pawnee and the Cheyenne Indians felt strongly with the wolf. The Pawnee lived in present day Kansas and Nebraska. The Pawnee were also known as the Wolf People.
Wolves were used on totem poles by the Tlingit and Tsimsy an Indian tribe who lives on coastal British Columbia. They believed wolves to be gods.
The American Indian not only adored the wolf, but they became a wolf through animist society.
Some tribes believed that killing a wolf would cause the big game to disappear, a view completely opposite to that of some modern hunters (Busch, Wolf Almanac, 98).
Cree Indians believed wolves visited the Earth when the northern lights shone in the winter. Many other Indian tribes believed the wolf howls after they eat to allow other scavengers to eat the wolf's prey. Also, other tribes believe the wolf howls are cries when lost spirits are trying to return to the Earth.
The Plains Indians represented the directions with animals. Bear-West, Mountain lion-North, Wildcat-South, Wolf-East.
