Wolf Awareness Week: Fascinating wolf facts

October 19, 2010

Yesterday, we showed you where wolves are in the United States and the threats they’re facing. But no matter if we’re talking about Red Wolves in North Carolina or gray wolves in Alaska, they all share the same basic biology and behavior. Here are some more fascinating facts about wolves!

A pack of wolves in Alaska. Photo by Gary Schultz/National Geographic Stock.

Vital stats

Wolves are the largest North American member of the dog family (Canidae), which also includes coyotes and foxes. Wolves evolved into their present form around one million years ago (while our human ancestors were still learning to walk!), and they are close ancestral cousins of man’s best friend. Every breed of domestic dog that we have today, from poodles to huskies, are descended from a small subspecies of wolf that was domesticated in China about 12,000 to 15,000 years ago.

Gray wolves grow to be 5 to 6-feet long, stand 2 to 3-feet tall and weigh 80 to 120 pounds (Red Wolves are only 3 to 4-feet long and weigh 40 to 80 pounds). They vary widely in color from being almost completely white to being totally black and many shades of gray, tan and brown in between. Wolves typically live seven or eight years in the wild, though recent data suggests life span can be closer to four years where there is hunting or aggressive management by humans. With fewer threats, wolves have been known to live 10 years or longer.

Life in the pack

Timber wolf pups play-fighting in Minnesota.

Wolves hunt and travel together in packs of four to seven animals including a breeding male and female, also called the alpha pair, several wolf pups and other non-breeding adults. The pack hunts together and can travel more than 100 miles in a day, though they typically roam 10 to 15 miles per day. Wolves establish and defend large territories from neighboring packs, often fighting over prized hunting ground and access to particular game herds.

Alpha pairs mate during January and February and produce litters just two months later. Pups are born blind and defenseless in protected dens but grow rapidly, reaching 20 pounds after two months and attaining full adult size by one year. For the first year, pups eat regurgitated food from the adult members of the pack. Pups play-fight with their siblings from a young age to learn important social behaviors that help establish a hierarchy that determines each wolf’s role in the pack later in life.

Diet

Wolves prey mainly on large hoofed mammals (known as ungulates) such as deer, elk, moose, caribou, bison, bighorn sheep and muskoxen. They also eat smaller prey such as snowshoe hare, beaver, rabbits, opossums and rodents. Although some wolves occasionally prey on livestock, wild prey are by far their preferred food source.

Most healthy ungulates are fast enough to outrun a pack of wolves. In fact, fewer than one out of ten attempts to chase moose actually end in a successful kill. If they start to fall behind, the pack will usually give up the chase. If the chosen prey is injured, weakened, or old, however, the wolves can usually catch up with them and attack.

Wolves prey mostly on animals that are young or elderly, sick or injured, and weak or unfit, thus keeping prey populations healthy and vigorous. By preventing large herbivores such as deer and elk from becoming overpopulated, wolves help maintain native biodiversity.

Their role in the ecosystem

Predators and predation play a dynamic and essential role in maintaining the health of ecosystems. Wolves prey mostly on animals that are young or elderly, sick or injured, and weak or unfit, thus keeping prey populations healthy and vigorous. By preventing large herbivores such as deer and elk from becoming overpopulated, wolves help maintain native biodiversity. When deer and elk become too abundant for their habitat, they overgraze it and may destroy the plant base, making the habitat less suitable for other species.

Wolves hunt two bull elk in Yellowstone. Photo courtesy of the U.S. National Park Service.

For example, in Yellowstone National Park, the return of wolves has altered elk grazing behavior. With less grazing pressure from elk, streambed vegetation such as willow and aspen is regenerating after decades of overbrowsing. As the trees are restored, they create better habitat for native birds and fish, beaver and other species. In addition, wolves have reduced Yellowstone’s coyote population by as much as 50 percent in some areas, which in turn increased populations of pronghorn and red fox.

Got a Question About Wolves?

Email us your wolf questions any day this week, and we’ll respond with answers on Friday.

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