Hard Facts About Gray Wolves:

Len McDougall
Paradise, Michigan
First Serial Rights
2390 words
August 31, 2009


Hard Facts About Gray Wolves:


No species in North America is more misrepresented or misunderstood than the Gray Wolf - known here in Michigan’s timber country as the Timber Wolf. Exterminated from nearly all of its original range by 500 years of shoot-on-sight status, this keystone carnivore had been granted a short reprieve by government officials to recuperate from its nearly-extinct status - Michigan's government paid a $50 bounty for wolf carcasses until 1968.

Now, as of August 31, 2009, states in the Rocky Mountains Management Region are selling licenses to kill wolves. Cattle ranchers who graze their livestock primarily on publicly-owned prairie lands have succeeded in surreptitiously coercing dollar-driven politicians to quietly - as if they were hiding it from Americans - issue kill permits to hunters. As always, the biggest complaint is that wolves are eating their cows. In fact, wolf predation kills far fewer free-range cows than are lost to illness and weather, and cattle farmers with substantiated losses due to wolves are reimbursed for market value from funds held by private organizations like Defenders of Wildlife.

Most outrageous are the numbers of wolves that constitute what Wyoming and Montana consider sufficient to justify a hunting season. According to the International Wolf Center, populations in the 3-state Rocky Mountains Management Region break down to 846 wolves in Idaho, 500 in Montana, and 302 in Wyoming. Apply those numbers to bison, moose, spotted owls, even rabbits - what other animal whose population numbered fewer than 1,700 individuals over a 3-state area would not be considered an endangered species?

Because the best cure for the ignorance that causes politicians to enact legislation like this is hard science and truth, I humbly submit the following factual biography of the Gray Wolf:


Gray Wolf (Canis lupus):
Gray wolves are the ancestors of all domestic dogs, including feral breeds like Australian dingos
(Canis lupus dingo) and New Guinea singing dogs (Canis lupus halstromi). Genetic evidence
indicates that gray wolves were domesticated by humans as many as 5 times.

Geographic Range:
The gray (timber) wolf is the largest of 41 species of wild canids worldwide. All wolves in N.
America (except the Red Wolf, Canis rufus) are genus Canis lupus.
Along with the coyote (Canis latrans), gray wolves once occupied the northern hemisphere
from the Arctic through central Mexico, North Africa, and Asia. Today there are about 4,000
wolves living in the lower U.S., with 2,000 of those in Minnesota. The balance live mostly in
Michigan and around Yellowstone National Park. Canada estimates 50,000 wolves, Alaska claims 7,000. Canada and Alaska permit wolf hunting, and in 2006 gray wolves in the Eastern Management Region of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota were removed from the Endangered Species list. They have since been returned to Endangered Species status.
In Europe, wolves occupy northern Russia, Poland, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal, and Italy.
Wolves were exterminated from Great Britain in the 16th century, and nearly so in Greenland
during the 20th century (Greenland's wolf populations have recovered). Unmolested, wolves
have proved adaptable to advancing civilization.

Habitat:
Gray wolves thrive in a variety of climates. Pack territory can encompass hundreds of square
miles, but wolves range only as far as environmental factors demand. If an area provides adequate prey and water, territory may be only a few square miles. Where a food supply is migratory, as with caribou herds on Arctic tundra, packs may travel hundreds of miles. Road development has had little affect on wolf migrations.

Physical Characteristics:
Mass: 60 - 135 pounds; females about 10 percent smaller.
Body: Dog-like, but with larger head, more massive muzzle, heavier legs. Body length 40 - 50
inches. Shoulder height 26 - 38 inches. Normal gait is a trot of about 6 mph, keeping the spine
straight, different from the bouncing gait of dogs. Ears proportionally short and rounded.
Tail: 14 - 20 inches, bushy, dark on top, lighter below. Tails never curl, but are always held
straight down (relaxed), straight back (running), or straight up (excited). Domestic dogs, including wolf hybrids, curl their tails over their backs.
Tracks: Wolves have 4 toes on each foot, tipped with nonretractible claws, and a heel pad
behind. Largest feet of all canids, to maximize weight distribution and traction for pursuit speeds
exceeding 35 mph over variable terrain. Front: 4 - 4.5 inches long, discounting claws; hind: 3.5 to more than 4 inches, much larger a dog of the same weight, twice the size of a coyote's. Straddle 4 - 6 inches. Walking stride 26 - 30 inches. Horizontal leaps up to 20 feet. Heel pads of the hind feet have 3 lobes to their rear, but front heel pads show only 2 lobes, leaving a chevron-shaped imprint that is different from the 3-lobed front tracks of a coyote, fox, and many dogs.
Scat: Irregularly cylindrical, segmented, normally tapered at both ends, similar to other wild
canids, but proportionally larger; 1.5 - 2 inches in diameter, 6 to 8 inches long. An adult wolf has
bite strength sufficient to crush large bones to obtain fat-rich marrow, and large chunks of bone in scat are a hallmark of wolf scat. Ingested fur wraps the the scat spiral-fashion as it moves through the digestive system, encasing sharp fragments that might injure the digestive tract. Fresher scats are darker in color, in varying shades of brown or black, becoming gray as organic matter decomposes.
Coloration: North American gray wolves tend toward three color phases: Gray, black, and white.
The common gray phase is typified by combinations of white (especially silver guard hairs) with
black, gray, red, and brown on the upper body and head. The back has a black "saddle," with
most reddish fur occurring around the muzzle and ears. Belly light gray, with a black spot atop the base of the tail (precaudal gland). Pups usually born black, with coats growing progressively more gray with age. Black and darkly-marked wolves are typically younger than grayer wolves.
Completely white coats are most common to Arctic subspecies in the far north.
Sign: Digging for burrowed animals is a sign of gray wolves, but look for tracks in loose soil,
because so do bears, coyotes, and badgers. Trees are urinated on as territorial markers, and as an
indication of social status - males urinate as high up on a trunk as possible to demonstrate their
size. Females may urinate at scent posts, usually squatting, but sometimes raising one leg. Wolves habitually transport large prey, whole or in pieces, to a secure, preferably elevated, location. Gray wolves can carry deer weighing nearly as much as themselves for hundreds of yards, leaving traces of hair and drag marks in the earth. Favorite feeding spots may be littered with bones.
Vocalizations: Wolves are normally silent, but a social lifestyle demands communication.
Howling is the most recognized sound, heard most often at dusk, when packs gather to hunt.
Howling is initiated by the alpha male. Group howling warns competing carnivores that a territory is claimed, and serves as a pep rally that gets pack members psyched-up for a nightly hunt. Howls are mostly monotonal, occasionally "breaking" with an abrupt change in pitch, or wavering tremulously, but without the yipping or prolonged barking of coyotes and dogs. Wolves issue a single, deep bark when alarmed, but seem incapable of barking repeatedly.
Lifespan: Up to 10 years in the wild; 15 years in captivity.
Diet: Gray wolves are meat-eaters, but they require some vegetables to provide minerals and
vitamins not provided by prey. Wolves in captivity are fond of green beans; those in the wild eat
blueberries, fruits, grasses, and pine buds.
Wolves are known as hunters of large prey, and the drill-team precision of hunting pack is
legendary, but they try to avoid prey that could injure one of them. The wolf's natural niche is
what the ancients called "God's Knife," an instrument for removing weak deer from the gene pool, so preferred prey is a sickly or injured individual. Deer that are near death from starvation (early spring) are not eaten, because toxins accumulate in muscle mass when it cannibalizes itself. One winter wolf sign is the crushed skull of a deer, opened by a wolf's powerful jaws to gain access to fat-rich brains.
Wolf packs split up in mid-winter (when the alpha pair leaves to mate and seek out a den), but
may regroup periodically with "gathering" howls to hunt larger prey. Lone wolves rarely bring
down deer, but can subsist entirely on mice, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, and other smaller animals.


Mating Habits:
Gray wolves mate between January and March, with those in warmer latitudes breeding first
because spring comes to them earlier. To prevent inbreeding, only the Alpha pair may mate within a pack, which is in fact a family unit. Adult offspring may leave to establish their own territories at 2 - 4 years of age, but weaker "omega" wolves may remain with the pack permanently.
Like dogs, the females' breeding cycle has four stages: anestrus, proestrus, estrus, and diestrus.
The estrus stage, when the female can copulate, lasts 5 - 14 days, about half that of a domestic
dog. Males come into heat when females do, and, unlike dogs, their testicles are normally
retracted, descending only for breeding.
Two weeks prior to mating, the alpha pair separates from their pack to establish a den, which
will never be far from water. Dens consist of a downward-sloping tunnel, roughly 18 inches in
diameter and 10 feet long, excavated into the soil of hillside. This opens into a chamber about 4
feet high by 6 feet long and 6 feet wide, whose floor is higher than the entrance tunnel's bottom to prevent flooding. Dens may also be made in small caves, so long as these afford protection from weather and predators (especially bears) that prey on pups. A den may be used year after year if left unmolested.
Gestation lasts about 60 days, with most pups born between March and May, depending on how long winter lasts in that area. Average litter size is 6, depending on how healthy the mother is during her pregnancy, and pups weigh about 8 ounces at birth. As the pregnant female becomes more vulnerable, she will spend more time in the den, and her mate will bring her food.
Newborn pups are blind and deaf. They remain in the den for about 8 weeks, and for their first
3 weeks their mother stays with them constantly except for infrequent outings to drink and to expel waste. She will take most of her meals in the den, but its interior will be fastidiously free of refuse that might bring disease to her young. Except for the alpha male, pack members are banned from the den site until pups are weaned, but the alpha male may regroup them for a hunt by howling.
Pups grow at about 3 pounds per week, eating meat regurgitated by pack members returned from a hunt. Predigested meat is easier for the young pups to assimilate, and adults can carry more meat more easily in their stomachs than in their mouths.
Pups are weaned by 9 weeks, freeing their mother to join her pack on hunts. Pups may leave the den to play-fight with one another at this time, watched over by a "babysitter" - usually the
weakest (Omega) member of the pack. By 10 months, the pups have grown to about 65 pounds
and are old enough to hunt with the pack. Female pups reach sexual maturity at 2 years, and may
leave the pack to find their own mates. Males typically don't reach full maturity until age 3.

Behaviorisms:
Gray wolves are exceptionally social, with pack sizes from 2 recently joined mates to more than 30 reported in northern Canada. A pack is comprised of family members, which limits its size.
Unrelated adults are rarely accepted into an established pack, but orphaned pups are always
adopted.
All gray wolf packs have an annual stationary and nomadic phase. The stationary phase occurs
during spring and summer, when pups are too small to travel with their pack. The nomadic phase occurs from autumn to the late winter, when packs must travel to follow migratory or yarded deer herds. Depending on terrain and necessity, a pack may travel more than 75 miles in a day, most of it during the hours of darkness at a lope of about 15 miles per hour.
A defined hierarchy exists within each pack. Alpha males are most dominant, although packs
have been led by a widowed alpha female. All members are subordinate to the alphas. If the
alpha male is killed, the female may leave the pack to seek out a new mate, leaving the Beta, or
second strongest male, to lead. Newly-paired alpha mates seeking out territories in which to
establish their own pack often travel with a third female wolf, usually a sister of the alpha female.
This practice helps to insure that a new alpha pair has the strength to take down larger prey, but
also provides the alpha male with a backup mate should the original alpha female be killed. If all
goes well, the secondary female will serve as a babysitter for the alphas' first litter of pups. If the
alpha female is killed, the sister will likely take her place.
Members of a wolf pack virtually never fight one another, because that would weaken the team's ability to hunt. Alphas are almost never challenged from within, and the pack hierarchy is strictly followed - alphas eat first, followed by betas, then subordinate pack members, and finally by the omega, or lowest ranking, wolf. Adult offspring must leave the pack to find mates, thus
preventing inbreeding. Pack members are brought food if they become incapacitated, but often
leave the pack voluntarily.
While there have been instances of hand-fed “campground wolves” biting campers who have tried to pet them, gray wolves have never in recorded history attacked or preyed on a human being of any age or size. In November 2004, Canadian geology student Kenton Carnegie was killed by a bear in Saskatchewan, and his death was at first attributed to wolves - 3 of which were shot - before wildlife expert Doctor Lynn Rogers confirmed that Carnegie had been the victim of an old and sickly bear. Gray wolves have been known to regard pets - especially dogs - as enemies, but humans are safe from them.