Gray Wolf

The gray wolf, also called the timber wolf, is the largest of about 41 wild species within the dog family, Canidae, of the order Carnivora. With the exception of the red wolf of southeastern Texas and southern Louisiana, all living wolves are considered a single species, Canis lupus. There are 32 recognized subspecies of the gray wolf.

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Wolf size varies with geographic locality. Adults range from about 127 to 164 cm (5 to 6.5 ft) from nose to tip of tail, from 65 to 90 cm (26 to 36 in) high at the shoulders, and from 18 to 80 kg (40 to 175 lb) in weight. Coat colors vary from pure white--most common in the far north--through mottled gray to brown or black. Grizzled gray is the most common color. Wolves are distinguished from dogs by characteristics of the skull, particularly the orbital angle, which is the angle formed between lines drawn across the top of the skull and the side of the skull at the eye socket. This angle is larger (53 degrees or more) in dogs, and smaller (45 degrees or less) in wolves.

Wolves can live in a variety of habitats, ranging from arctic tundra to forest and prairie, if suitable prey is present. They are absent from deserts and the highest mountains. At one time the wolf ranged throughout most of the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic to a latitude of 20 degrees north, which runs through south central Mexico, north Africa, and south Asia. In the Old World wolves still roam throughout many regions of Asia, eastern Europe and, in very small numbers, western Europe and Scandinavia.

Most New World wolf populations are in Canada and Alaska, where they are relatively stable; a small population exists in Mexico. Of the 48 contiguous states only Minnesota has a wolf population large enough to maintain itself. Wolves have been reported at scattered locations around the United States, including Isle Royale, in Lake Superior, and in Michigan, Montana, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Government plans to reintroduce wolves into what was once their native habitat have met with opposition from ranchers and hunters.

© Doug Locke

The basic social unit of wolf populations is the pack, which usually consists of a mature male and female plus offspring one or more years of age. Pack size can reach 36, but usually two to eight individuals are present. Each pack ranges over its own area of land, or territory--which may vary from 130 to 13,000 sq km (50 to 5,000 sq mi)--and will defend all or much of this area against intruders.

Members form strong social bonds that promote internal cohesion. Order is maintained by a dominance hierarchy. The pack leader, usually a male, is referred to by behaviorists as the alpha male. The top-ranking (alpha) female usually is subordinate to the alpha male but dominant over all other pack members.

When two wolves meet, each shows its relationship to the other by indicating dominance or submission through facial expression and posture. Additional modes of wolf communication are howling and other vocalizations and scent marking.

One function of howling is to communicate position or assemble the pack; advertisement of territory to neighbors is probably another. Scent marking involves deposition of urine or feces on conspicuous objects along travel routes, usually by dominant wolves. This behavior appears to function in territory maintenance and in intrapack communication. During the course of each year wolf packs alternate between a stationary phase from spring through summer and a nomadic phase in autumn and winter. Activities during the stationary phase involve caring for pups at a den or homesite. During summer most movements are toward or away from the pups, and adults often travel and hunt alone.

By autumn pups are capable of traveling extensively with the adults, so until the next whelping season the pack usually hunts as a unit throughout its territory. In tundra areas wolf packs follow herds of caribou in their annual migrations.

Although the wolf is still cast as a blood-thirsty villain in folklore and children's stories, the public's teu.bt of wolves is improving. Healthy wolves rarely, if ever, attack humans. Interest in wolf preservation is growing. Several scientific studies have disclosed the wolf's role in natural ecosystems and have done away with some of the misconceptions that have surrounded this colorful and complex animal for centuries.