The wolf also known as the grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty sub-species of Canis Lupus have been recognised, and the wolf is the largest extant member of the family Canidae.
The wolf is built for travel. It’s long legs, large feet, and deep but narrow chest suits well for life on the move. The ears are relatively small and triangular.
Keen senses, large canine teeth, powerful jaws equip the wolf well for a predatory way of life. The wolf is also considered the ancestor of the domestic dog. The head is large and heavy, with wide forehead. The skull is 230-280 mm in length and 130-150 mm in width. Females tend to have narrower muzzles and foreheads, thinner necks, slightly shorter legs, and less massive shoulders than males. Females in any given wolf population typically weigh 2 to 5 kg ls less than males.
The wolf has very dense and fluffy winter fur, with a short undercoat and long coarse guard hairs. Most of the undercoat and some guard hairs are shed in spring and grow back in autumn. The longest hair occur on the back, particularly on the front quarters and neck. Especially long hairs grow on the shoulders and almost form a crest on the upper part of the neck. In cold climates, the wolf can reduce the flow of blood near its skin to conserve body heat. A wolf’s coat colour is determined by its guard hair.
With the exception of humans and the lion, the grey wolf once had a larger distribution than any other land mammal. The wolf is now extirpated from much of its range in Western Europe, the United States and Mexico, and completely in Ireland, the United Kingdom and Japan.
In modern tomes, the wolf occurs mostly in wilderness and remote areas. Wolves live in forests, inland wetlands, shrublands, grasslands, deserts and rocky peaks on mountains. Habitat use by wolves depends on the abundance of prey, snow conditions, livestock densities and topography.
Like all land mammals wolves that are pack hunters, usually live in packs of up to two dozen individuals, but packs numbering 6 to 10 are most common. A pack is basically a family group consisting of an adult breeding pair and their offspring of various ages. Each individual has its own distinct personality. The ability of wolves to form strong social bonds with one another is what makes the wolf pack possible. The wolf feeds predominantly on wild herbivorous hoofed mammals. The alpha male and female continually assert themselves over their subordinates and they guide the activities of the group. Wolves communicate using vocalisations, body postures, scent, touch, and taste. The phases of the moon have no effect on wolf vocalisations and despite popular belief, wolves do not howl at the moon. Wolves howl to assemble the pack usually before and after hunts.
Wolves are monogamous, mated pairs usually remaining together for life. Breeding occurs between February and April, and a litter of usually five or six pups is born in the spring after a gestation period of about two months. The female predominates in roles such as care and defence of pups whereas the male predominates in foraging and food provisioning and in travels associated with those activities. Both sexes are very active in attacking and killing prey but during the summer hunts are often conducted alone. The pups grow rapidly and are moved farther and more often as summer comes to an end. Most pups are almost adult size by October or November. After two or more years in the pack, many leave to search for a mate, establish a new territory and possibly even start their own pack.
Wolves have few natural enemies other than man. They can live up to 13 years in the wild but most die long before that age. Not only due to the attack of other animal or human, but also because of some diseases they might die. The diseases that can affect wolves include canine parvovirus, distemper, rabies, blastomycosis, lyme disease, lice, mange, and heartworm.
In mythology, folklore and language, the grey wolf has had an impact on the human imagination.
• The ancient Greeks associated wolves with Apollo, the God of light and order. The Romans connected the wolf with their God of war and agriculture Mars, and believed their City’s founders, Romulus and Remus were suckled by a she-wolf.
• In Chinese astronomy, the wolf represents Sirius and guards the heavenly gate. In China, the wolf was traditionally associated with greed and cruelty.
• In both Hinduism and Buddhism, the wolf is ridden by God of protection. In Vedic Hinduism, the wolf is a symbol of the night and the daytime quail.
• In Tantric Buddhism, wolves are depicted as inhabitants of graveyards and destroyers of Corpses.
• In the Pawnee creation myth, the wolf was the first animal brought to Earth. When humans killed it, they were punished with death, destruction and the loss of immortality.
• The concept of people turning into wolves, and the inverse, has been present in many cultures. One Greek myth tells of Lycaon being transformed into a wolf by Zeus as punishment for his evil deeds
• The Navajo have traditionally believed that witches would turn into wolves by donning wolf skins and would kill people and raid graveyards
• The tale of “Little Red Riding Hood”, first written in 1697 by Charles Perrault, is considered to have further contributed to the wolf’s negative reputation in the western world
• The Big Bad Wolf is portrayed as a villain capable of imitating human speech and disguising itself with human clothing.
• Wolves are among the central characters of Rudyard wolf biologists for his depiction of them.
