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Wolf Presentation

Types of Wolves

Gray Wolf
Timber wolf
Red wolf
Arctic wolf

Wolf colors & coats

Wolves range from all shades of gray, tan, and brown to pure white or solid black.
32% of wolves were black.
Most wolves in north America are a grizzled gray color.
Wolves depend upon their thick coat for warmth in the northern portions of their range.

Wolf grooming

It is not surprising that Wolves spend part of their leisure time in grooming behavior.
It is likely that the grooming of other pack members help reinforce the social bonds that tie the pack together.
Two wolves will each other’s coat’s, nibbling gently with their teeth to remove foreign matter.
Reciprocal grooming is especially common during courtship.
Injured wolves are intensely groomed by other pack members, providing both physical and mental comfort.

Wolf tracks

The large feet of the wolf act as snowshoes in the winter.
Wolf tracks are very similar to those of a domestic dog, consisting of four pad prints plus claw marks.

Wolf diseases

Wolves are susceptible to more that 100 diseases and parasites, including various protozoa, roundworms, heartworms, tapeworms, flatworms, mange, mites, ticks, fleas, distemper, cataracts, oral papillomatosis, tularemia, trichinosis, bovine tuberculosis, encephalitis, arthritis, brucellosis, cancers, rickets, pneumonia, Lyme disease, parvovirus, rabies, and many other ailments.

Wolf sense of smell

The wolf’s keen sense of smell allows it to track many types of game.
A wolf’s sense of smell may be 100 times more accurate than a human’s.

Wolf sense of hearing

Wolves may be able to hear up to 10 miles away.
Next to smell, the sense of hearing is the most acute of the wolf senses.
Next to smell, the sense of hearing is the most important sense of the wolf.

Wolf mouth

Wolves have a total of 42 teeth 10 more than humans.
The jaw of the wolf has a crushing power of 1,500 pounds per square inch.

Lone wolves

Lone wolves usually comprise less that 15% of a total wolf population.
When individual pack members die, lone wolves sometimes move in to fill the gap.
Lone wolves tend to cover a large territory in their search for food or a mate and travel longest distances when they are cast out.

Wolf pack size

A wolf pack can range from under 10 wolves to over 50 wolves.
Extra – large packs may provide improved hunting efficiency when game is scarce or may alternatively be a response to abundant prey.

Wolf pack ranks

Alpha – Leader
Beta – assistant leader
Other- hunters, pup sitters
Omega – lowest ranking wolf

The leader of a wolf pack

The leader of a wolf pack is called the alpha.
There are 2 leaders in the pack, the alpha male and alpha female.
The alpha male and the alpha female in a wolf pack are the head of the social hierarchy of a wolf pack.

Wolf sleeping

The Wolf curls up, sleep for 5-10 minutes, and wake up again.
They turn around a few times, making sure to see what's happening, before they curl up again, and go back to sleep for another 5-10 minutes.
Almost half a wolf’s time is spent sleeping

Mates in a wolf pack

The alpha male and female are not the only pair in the pack that mates but mostly it is the alpha’s that mate.
Domesticated dogs can also mate with a wolf but rare to see.

The wolf den

Shortly before giving birth, a pregnant female will seek out a den to protect the young pups.
Dens can be a deep riverbank hollow, a cleft between rocks, a hollow log, a space under uprooted tree roots, or a space under a rock overhang.
Some female wolves reuse previous dens.

Wolf litter size

A wolf litter size averages between 5 – 6 pups.
Some litters can be between 1-11pups

Dangers to wolf pups

Wolf pups are preyed upon by a wide variety of predators, including bears, cougars, and other wolves.
Hunters are also a danger to many wolf pups.

Wolves hunting part 1

Wolves detect prey by three primary means:

Scent (most common)
Tracking
Chance encounters

After prey is detected, wolves may split up to search though brush, travel on ridge tops searching for the prey below, or test herds looking for signs of weakness.
It has long been recognized that wolves often take advantage of weak individuals in a herd.

Wolves hunting part 2

Weakened animals may show their conditions to predators through

Body stance
Uncoordinated body movement
The smell of wounds or infection
Some other tangible signal

Once a weak individual is selected by the pack, it is brought down after a chase.
While a majority of the pack rests, one or two members test the prey for signs of fatigue.
When the attack comes, the prey is usually seized by either the nose or the rump.
The actual death of the prey is usually caused by massive blood loss, shock, or both
Sometimes with smaller prey a neck bite will snap the backbone.
Wolves usually begin to feed on the rump if it was exposed during the chase, or else on the internal organs.
The muscle and flesh is the last portion of the prey that is eaten, in contrast to human eating habits.

Prey of the wolf

Moose, mice, deer, elk, caribou, beaver, hare, buffalo, birds, sheep, Ground squirrel, goat, saiga and Tibetan antelope, yak, urial, argali, Tibetan gazelle, camel, Ibex, Chamois, wild horse, wild boar, porcupine, rabbit, gopher, shrew, mole, rat, raccoon, muskrat, woodchuck, marmot, insects, nuts, berries, fruits, shellfish, earthworms, carrion, and human garbage.

The old wolf habitat

The old wolf habitat had included the high arctic, tundra, taiga, forests, plains, deserts, and virtually every ecological niche that provided sufficient food for it’s existence.
The tropical jungle appear to be the only ecological niche not inhabited by wolves.

The size of a wolf territory

The average size of a wolf territory is 223.88 square miles.

The current wolf habitat

Currently, the majority of wolves inhabit the most forested, rugged, and remote regions of the Northern Hemisphere, pushed there by the spread of their most deadly enemy, MAN!!!

Wolf as a pet

One of the most serious problems faced by humane societies across North America is that of exotic pets.
Many pet wolves end up in small backyard pens far too small for their needs.

Wolf – dog hybrid

Crossing a dog and a wolf undoes 12,000 years of domestication.
The most common wolf – dog hybrid crosses are those resulting from the breeding of wolves with Siberian Huskies, Alaskan Malamutes, or German Shepherds.
Over 200,000 wolf – dog hybrids are kept as pets across the United States.

Wolf Communications

Vocal Expressions such as Howling, barking, growling.
Scent marking
Tail positions

The Wolf howl

The howl is used to notify other pack members or other packs of their whereabouts, or to reassemble a scattered pack.
To attract a mate.
To stimulate and rally the pack before the hunt.
To startle prey and cause it to come out of hiding.
When disturbed, but not sufficiently alarmed to run away.
Upon awakening.
After intense sessions of play or presence of an intruder.
When stressed; lonesome wolf pups often howl their distress.
The wolf howl can be heard from 10 miles in the winter.
Wolf pups learn to howl by imitates the older wolves in the pack.
Wolf howls help maintain contact among wolves in thick woods.
The howl of a wolf is the voice of the wilderness.