Facts About The Mejestic Wolf, Forest Ostrander [miss read books TXT] 📗

in order to solicit food from their parents. The food-soliciting and mobbing greeting toward parents become the collective "love-in" display of affection and allegience shown by subordinate adults to the leader. Such ritual ceremonies are performed especially when wolves wake up, before they split up to hunt, and when the pack is reunited after a hunt.
Another ritual often follows this, namely the pack howl or chorus. The sound of a wolf pack in full song perhaps best exemplifies the highly evolved sociability of the wolf.

A well-understood and respected hierarchy eliminates most serious conflict within the pack. Wolves are incredibly strong, and potential injuries could be fatal if wolves chose to fight one another. Hunting would be less effective without the full strength of each individual, and the pack would suffer.
Wolves possess a strong social nature. Understanding this sophisticated and highly complex social system and its dynamics is the key to understanding wolves. Each wolf assumes a particular role within the pack; a role that may change as the wolf matures and develops into either a strong, decisive individual or, maybe, a more submissive follower.
The Alpha wolves are usually the oldest and most experienced members of the pack. The alpha male and female guide the activities of the pack and share the duties of leadership; the alpha male may determine hunting strategies and take the initiative in marking his pack's territory. The alpha female makes decisions on where to establish den sites- a crucial role, as this determines where the pack will live and hunt as well.
Dominant wolves display strong personalities and must be confident decision makers. Alpha leaders have to be able to earn the respect and affection of other pack members. Lower-ranking members show this respect by approaching the alpha male or female with their bodies lowered and greeting them by reaching up to lick or nuzzle the alpha animal's face. "Top dog" in the wolf pack is an honored role and even young pups begin testing and challenging one another through play fighting to establish dominance.
Clear communication is a key element to the success of a cooperative pack- when signals from the alpha wolf are clear and are respected by other pack members, disputes can be settled quickly and without physical confrontation. Wolves communicate even complex messages in very subtle ways. A strong glance or a quick growl may be all that is neccessary to keep the peace. Even when pack members don't see eye to eye, quarrels are quickly forgotten once settled.
Subordinate pack members need time to learn the skills their leaders can teach. The health of a wolf pack cannot be measured by sheer numbers but rather by the strength and skills brought to the whole pack by individuals, each playing vital roles.
A wolf's decision to leave the security of the pack is not made lightly, as a lone wolf is quite vulnerable. Acquiring food is a dangerous and difficult proposition for a whole pack, much less a wolf on its own. Often it is confident and aggressive wolves under the age of two that choose to become dispersers and possibly leaders of their own pack. They may leave because they have been harassed by other pack members, because food supplies have become scarce in their pack's territory, or because of a need to mate that cannot be fulfilled within their pack of origin.
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Enemies and Allies
In Yellowstone, the threatened grizzly bear and the reintroduced gray wolf seem to have developed a relationship since 1995. The two have been observed traveling together, and sometimes even killing together. An individual bear may even walk up to a carcass, scaring off nearby wolves. But also a sow with two cubs have been seen traveling with a couple of wolves for about a week, feeding together.
However, grizzlies are also known to prey upon wolf pups at 2 weeks of age, and wolves will chase away bears from the den area. Golden Eagles will also attempt to steal wolf pups.
Foxes have been observed stealing from wolf kills, and wolves have been know to steal fox dens. Also wolves have been known to kill foxes, though rare. Wolves usually ignore these small predators, except in the arctic region where wolves will kill a fox on sight.
One of the most interesting relationships between animals is the one that exist between wolves and raven. The raven, scavenger of food of all types, will often follow wolf packs in hopes of morsels of food. Wolves have learned to watch for circling ravens as a sign of possible food below. Also wolves and ravens may play a game of 'tag'. When the wolf wins, it is usually at the cost of the raven's life.
Wolverines may scavenge kills in the presence of other carnivores with added risk of death or injury. Where they both coexist, wolves and mountain lions may kill wolverines.
Although wolves are capable of breeding with dogs, such crosses usually happen in captivity. Most encounters between wild wolves and dogs are aggressive in nature. It is only natural a dog would be a trespasser in a wolf's territory, and small yapping dogs may be attacked as nuisances.
Coyotes will avoid wolves most times. but when encounters occour they are aggressive. Rare in nature, the cougar being a lone hunter is at a disadvantage in a fight with a wolf pack.
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Evolution and Classification

Miacis, Hesperocyon, and Cynodesmus are three prehistoric carnivores that played an important part in the wolf's evolution.

The Gray Wolf: Canis Lupus

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Class Mammalia
Order Carnivora
Family Canidae
Genus Canis
Species lupus
SubSpecies;
Some of the many descriptive subspecific names once or still recognized for the gray wolf follow:
LYCAON Refers to a character in Greek mythology; Lycaon, king of Arcadia, was turned into a wolf by Zeus as a punishment. The eastern timber wolf of North America, Canis lupus lycaon.
ALCES Referring to this wolf's dependency on very large moose, which are themselves classified as Alces Alces. The Kenai Peninsula wolf, Canis lupus alces.
BAILEYI Named after the a government trapper. The Mexican wolf, Canis lupus baileyi.
CAMPESTRIS "The wolf of the open plains." The steppe wolf, Canis lupus campestris.
COLUMBIANUS The British Columbia wolf, Canis lupus columbianus.
FUSCUS "Tawny", referring to the coat color of the Cascade Mountains wolf, Canis lupus fuscus.
HUDSONICUS The Hudson Bay wolf, Canis lupus hudsonicus, ranged west and north of Hudson Bay.
LABRADORIUS The Labrador wolf, Canis lupus labradorius, had a distribution throught out northern Quebec and Labrador.
NUBILUS "Cloudy" or "cloudy gray," referring to the generally pale gray coloration of animals that once roamed the Great Plains. The Buffalo wolf,Canis lupus nubilus.
OCCIDENTALIS The "western" wolf, also known as the Mackenzie wolf, Canis lupus occidentalis.
ORION Another reference to mythology, comparing the wolf to the great hunter Orion. The Greenland wolf, Canis lupus orion.
YOUNGI Refers to a government hunter who helped spread wolf tales and lores in the 1940s and 1950s. The southern Rocky Mountain wolf Canis lupus youngi.

Some sixty million years ago, in the Paleocene, the ancestors of the wolf began to develop. They found a niche as carnivores that hunted by chasing their prey. As these creatures evolved, they developed partially retractable claws and long, thick tails. As climatic changes took place, some of these carnivores moved out of the forests and onto the plains, giving rise to bears, raccoons, weasels, and wolves. Those carnivores that continued to inhabit the trees took a seperate evolutionary path-- retaining their retractable claws and refining an ambush style of hunting-- and their descendants survive as members of the cat family.
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Hunting

A successful hunt depends on the cooperative efforts of the entire pack. It is vital that all members get along and understand their roles if the pack is to survive. They depend on one another to bring down the game that would certainly elude them if each worked alone.
Because huntng carries a relatively low chance of success, wolves search for easy targets. It is the vunerable animals- the crippled, the diseased, the injured, those with poor sight or hearing, and the oldest or youngest- on which the wolf survives. In eliminating these weaker animals, the wolf helps maintain strong, viable populations of large ungulates such as caribou, deer, elk, and moose.
Before a wolf pack devotes great amounts of time and energy to pursuing prey, it tests the animal it has selected. Wolves will force their potential quarry to run or stand ground in defense.
If the prey animal vigorously defends itself, the wolves will think twice about continuing the attack. If, however, an individual exhibits any sign of weakness or injury (a limp, an inattentive mother, open wounds, substantial hair loss), it will become the focus of the pack's attention regardless of the other animals nearby.
Because their prey is generally much larger and swifter than they are, wolves make great use of any advantages they can find. Moving in close before attacking, aproaching from upwind, surprising prey, or encircling prey to cut off escape routes may provide the few valuable seconds that assures a successful kill. To wear out their quarry, one wolf may sprint while others lay back, surging ahead to take over when the lead wolf tires. The pack will snap at the animal's legs, rear, and sides to weaken it further.

Prey Species;
Deer:
Depend on their sharp, hard edges of their front hooves for defense. Or, if near water, they will charge in. Excellent swimmers, most deer can outpace wolves in deep water. However, their legs and hooves make moving on ice and hard-crust snow very treacherous. In these cases, wolves are likely to overcome their prey. Mature: 250-300 lbs.
Moose:
The most dangerous of the wolf's prey. The moose's legs and hooves are strong defense weapons. If they choose to flee from wolves, they often seek safety in water for they are strong swimmers and they can also give a good chase on land. To find success, wolves most often take the old, sick, or disabled, or young calves that have become seperated from their mothers. Mature: 800-1500 lbs.
Hares and Rabbits:
Greatest defense is their speed, as most mature hares can outrun their hunters. Other adaptions include large ears, large eyes, and sensitive nose for early warnings. Wolves do not depend on this prey as a source of food, but will readily take them in when available.

Beavers:
Depend on their highly developed senses of hearing and smell to warn of danger. If cut off from the water's edge by a wolf or other predator, the beaver literally goes underground escaping through a plunge hole beneath the forest floor, then underwater to their lodge. Mature: 50-60 lbs.
Bison:
Long ago, bison traveled across North America in large herds before European settlers and their guns. The bison were an important source of food for wolves. Native Americans learned much from wolves on how to effectively hunt the giant bison. Bison can smell trouble from afar, and when threatened, they use their their large horns for defense weapons. Presently, because of work to save the almost-extinct bison now their numbers have grown to safe thousands. Mature: 1000-2000 lbs.
Wild Boars:
Mostly active in the evening or at night, their acute sense of smell helps warn of danger. Their thick skin and dense layer of fat are not easy for a wolf to penerate if it is even successful in getting the chance. Wild pigs will defend themselves tenaciously and all come equipped with a set of growing tusks. Kept razor sharp,