Wolf Information

About the Wolf The grey wolf is the largest dog species in north america.  Wolves are usually 5-6 feet from nose to tail. They are very intellegent. Their acute hearing and sense of smell is up to 100 times more sensitve the a humans. They can run up to 40 mph and can travel up to 120 miles in a day though they only do about 15-20. Wolves travel, hunt and live in packs of 4-7 wolves, consisting of a dominant pair their pups and several other subordinate wolves. The alpha male and female are the leaders, tracking and hunting prey, choosing den sites and establishing pack TT. The alpha pair mate in January or Febuary and after a gestation period of about 65 days, give birth in the spring. Litters can contain 1 to 9 pups but usually only have 6. Pups have blue eyes at birth and usuallu only weigh 1 pound. Their eyes open at two weeks old and a week later they can walk and explore around the den. Pups romp and playfight at young ages. This is establishing a heirarchy that will decide which pups will become pack leaders. Wolf pups grow fast, they are 20 pounds in 2 months and full size in a year.  All adults asume parental responsabliltes of the pups. They feed the pups by regergitating food for them at about 4 weeks untill they are old enough to hunt with the pack. A wolf pup is the same size as an aduly by the time he or she is about a year old and can have a mate and pups by the time he or she is two years old. Pups remain with their parents during their first year of life while they are learing to hunt. During the second year, while their parents are raising a new litter of pups they can either stay with the group or spend periods of time on their own. Frequently they return in autum to spend their second witner with their pack. By the time the wolves are two years how ever they can go and find mates and TT's of their own. Communication Wolves communicate through facial expressions, body posture, sent marking, barks, howls, wimpers and growls. Howling can mean many things: a greeting, a rallying cry to gather the pack together, warn other wolves away, spontantious play, or bonding. There is no evidence that wolves howl at the moon. Pups begin to howl at one month old. The howl of a wolf can be heard up to six miles. When wolves in a pack communicate with each other they use their entire bodies: eyes, mouth, hackles, tail , head, set of ears and general body posture to express excitement, anxiety, agression or dominance. Wolves also wrestile, rub cheeks and noses, nuzzle, nip and lick each other. Wolves also leave "messages" fore each other, but urinating or scatching the ground to leave scent marks. Theese marks can marks can set the boundaries of TT's, record trails, warn off other wolves, or help lone wolves find unoccupied TT. No one knows how wolves get all this information from smelling scent marks but it is likely that wolves are very good at distinguishing between many similar odors. Pack Life If you are lucky enough to live in an area where wolves are common you may cometimes be able to hear them howl. The howl is a very important method wolves use to communicate with each other but it is by no means the most important way. The howl is however, the most well known method that wolves use to communicate. Pack hierarchy is very important to wolves, so much of the body language wolves use is related to their rank. There are four different classes of wolves withing a wolf pack theese include. 1.) The alpha pair: The alpha pair consists of a male and female wolf theese are the two wolves which will, generally, mate and produce offspring. These are the two top ranking wolves in the pack and they are dominant over all other wolves in the pack. 2.) Mature Subordinates:  Theese would include the wolves in the pack who are the second in command to the alpha pair. Often there are two separate dominance orders within a pack one for males and one for females. The highest ranking wolves among the mature, subordinate wolves are referred to as beta wolves. 3.) Outcasts: Many wolves packs contain one or a few omega wolves which may be mistreated by other pack members. Such wolves often avoid the other members of the pack and generally eat last off a kill the pack has made 4.) Juveniles: These would be young wolves that have not yet secured themselves a position within the pack's hierarchy. Pups do not secure themselves a place in the pack's hierarchy untill about 2 years of age. Usually the only time that the ranks change is during mating season when interactions both agressive and friendly ones between wolves become more intense than normal. Fights between wolves rarely inujure each other. A wolves tail depends on their rank and mood. A confident wolf will hold their tail and head high, same with an alpha. A sad or outcasted wolf will hold its tail between its legs or curled around them.  Fur can also determine status, alphas usually keep their fur more fluffed out while subordinates keep their fur flat. A low ranking wolf will usually keep its body low to the ground when approaching an alpha, with its ears back and fur flat.  It will then reach up and gently nip or lick the alphas muzzle in submission. If a subordinate wolf goes agaisnt the athority of the alpha the alpha can try and make the wolf submit or send the pack to kill the wolf. Breeding and Pups Usually the alpha male has dominacne over the entire pack even the alpha female. This is not alway ture. During mating season the alpha female takes total dominance even while the pups are still in the den. This is for the rest of the pack to know that she is the one to serve. She also decides where the den will be. WIth this in the packs mind they go in search of food and bring it bakc to the den either for the hungry laborious female or for the pups. Although in rare cases a non- alpha pair will mate. Breeding depends on: - How agressive the alpha pair are- -Sometimes the alpha female will become agressive to the other females in the pack -Other males that mate may be chased from the pack by a very dominante alpha male Disruption in pack Hierarchy -When the social order of a pack changes some reserarchers have noted that sometimes subordinate females may mate. When the two are about to mate, they bond, sleeping close and touching each other more and more. They will aproach each other making queit whining sounds, mouth each others muzzles, touch noses and bump their bodies together. There may be mutual grooming and nibblign of each others coatsand the two may walk pressed close together. The male may bow to the female, toss and tilit his head and lay his legs over her neck in what could only be described as flirting the two may even sleep side by side. As the courtship progresses the male will smell the genital region of the female to determine her rediness to mate, his tounge flicking in and out testing the air for traces of her hormones, if she is not receptive she will repel the male with growls and snaps of her jaws. Right before breeding the alpha pair might act jubilant by nuzzling, whipping tails in each others faces and even urinating. This is when actual bliss comes in by the alpha female releasing her hormones. Every male in the pack reacts to this even the male pups. As you may already know, wolves breed like dogs. The male mounts the female from behind. After mating the two still continue to be very affectionate. Pups are born 63 days later and nurse untill 6-8 weeks later.