Mammal Web Page

Description

The gray wolf is the biggest of all the candids. Its fur color varies depending on the climate. They are white in the Arctic and in more southern places, the coat is mixtures of white with gray, brown, light brown, and black. On the upper parts of wolves, the colors are usually black, gray, and brown. On the back, the color is black. On the muzzle, the ears, and the limbs the coloring is light brown. The Under parts of a the gray wolf are whitish and the tail is black.

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Habitat

The gray wolves have a wide variety of habitats. Wolves live in arctic tundra. They also live in the forest. The prairie is another place that they live. Finally, wolves like dry landscapes. Their dens have to be near well-drained soils and water.

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Range

The gray wolf's original range was most of the northern hemisphere- the Arctic to southern Central Mexico to northern Africa and southern Asia. Because of the humans' persecution toward the gray wolf, the range has narrowed down to only a few places in the United States, Alaska, Canada, a small population in Mexico, and Eurasia

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Food

Gray wolves are carnivores. They hunt prey, steal prey of other predators, or look for decaying flesh. They locate their prey by scent or chance. Gray wolves hunt in packs for large prey like moose, elk, musk oxen, bison, and reindeer. Once the wolves take the large animal down, they attack their rump, flank, or shoulder areas. Smaller prey like rodents, beavers, or rabbits are hunted by lone wolves. Wolves also eat livestock and garbage when it is available.

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Life Cycle

Female wolves choose their mates and usually stay with their partner life-long. Female gray wolves come into heat once a year from five to fifteen days. That is when the mating time occurs. After the mating time comes, the female digs a den where she will raise her young. The den is dug as a hole in the ground with an opening that slopes down and then rises to a higher area to avoid flooding. Other dens are under cliffs, fallen trees, or in caves. The gestation period lasts between sixty and sixty-three days. Breeding occurs between the months of January and April. Northern populations breed later than southern populations. The litter sizes range from one to fourteen, with an average size of six or seven pups. Pups are born in the den and stay there until they are eight to ten weeks old. Females stay with pups for the first three weeks after birth. Everyone in the pack takes care of the pups. Until they are forty five days old, pups are fed regurgitated food by all the members of the pack. Gray wolf pups are born blind and deaf. When they are ten to fifteen days old, the pups' blue eyes open up, but they have no control over their front legs. Their only way of transportation is crawling. Five to ten days later, the pups can stand, walk, and communicate with the other wolves. When the pups are nine weeks old weaning occurs. Once the pups leave the den they learn how to hunt and play. Wolf pups develop quickly, so when they are about ten months old they start to hunt with the pack. Wolves can live up to thirteen years of age in the wild, but the average is five to six years. In captivity a wolf may live up to fifteen years of age.

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Survival

When human population increased, so did the fear of wolves eating livestock. People started to hunt the gray wolf more and more until it almost became extinct. Now, about two thousand six hundred gray wolves live in forty eight states of the states in the United States. The main cause of the drop in population is habitat destruction and human injustice toward gray wolves. Currently, the gray wolves are protected from any violence toward them and people are starting to realize that gray wolves don't mean any harm toward humans. Populations in Alaska and Canada haven't changed much and are still abundant. But, in western Eurasia, populations have dropped very much.

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Facts

1. Female pups reach maturity at two years of age, while males will not reach full maturity until three years of age

2. Most packs are made up of five to nine individuals

3. The pack leader, usually the alpha male, is dominate over all wolves

4. Vocalizations, such as howling allows pack members to communicate their location to each other

5. Wolves can run at speeds up to fifty five to seventy kilometers per hour

6. A wolf can consume up to nine kg of meat at one meal

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Human Impact

Negative human impact is humans persecute gray wolves and invade their habitat. Positive human impact is humans take care of wolves and help the endangered species. I have more information on Human Impact in Survival.

Seven Levels of Classification

Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Mammalia
Order	Carnivora
Family	Canidae
Genus	Canis
Species	Canis lupus