Wolves develop close relationships and strong social bonds. The alpha female and male are the pack leaders that track and hunt prey, choose den sites and establish the pack’s territory. Packs include the mother and father wolves, called the alphas, their pups and several other subordinates or young animals. Wolves live, travel and hunt in packs of 4-7 animals on average. Thanks to the reintroduction of wolves in 1995, Yellowstone National Park is one of the most favored places to see and hear wolves in the native habitat. Mexican wolves are found in New Mexico and Arizona. Today their range has been reduced to Canada and the following portions of the United States: Alaska, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Wolves were once common throughout all of North America but were killed in most areas of the United States by the mid-1930s. Around the world, there are an estimated 200,000 in 57 countries, compared to up to 2 million in earlier times. There are an estimated 7,000 to 11,200 wolves in Alaska and more than 5,000 in the lower 48 states. Wolves are also scavengers and often eat animals that have died due to other causes like starvation and disease. Also known to eat beaver, rabbits and other small prey. Staples Ungulates (large hoofed mammals) like elk, deer, moose, and caribou. Weight: 55-130 lbs (Males are typically heavier and taller than the female) Length: 4.5-6.5 feet from nose to the tip of the tail Wolves are making a comeback in the Great Lakes, Northern Rockies, and the Southwestern United States. As the ancestor of the domestic dog, the gray wolf resembles German shepherds or malamutes. Gray wolves’ range in color from grizzled gray or black to all-white. The wolf is the largest member of the canine family. Wolf legends have also given rise to the popular horror figure of the werewolf. More familiar still are the fairy tales where the wolf appears as a villain such as Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs. Wolves feature in folklore and mythology of cultures ancient to modern across the northern hemisphere from the Norse legend of the giant Fenrir to more sympathetic depictions in Central Asia and the suckling of Romulus and Remus in the foundation of Rome. Gray wolves have been known to thrive in temperate forests, deserts, mountains, tundra, taiga, and grasslands this diversity reflects the wolf’s adaptability as a species. Gray wolves play an important role as apex predators in the ecosystems they typically occupy. Kazakhstan is currently thought to have the largest wolf population of any nation it has as many as 90,000, versus some 60,000 for Canada. Wolves are still hunted in many areas for sport or as perceived threats to livestock. Considered as a whole, however, the gray wolf is regarded as of least concern for extinction according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Though once abundant over much of North America and Eurasia, the gray wolf inhabits a very small portion of its former range because of widespread destruction of its habitat in some regions, it is endangered or threatened. As evidenced by studies of DNA sequencing and genetic drift the gray wolf shares a common ancestry with the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris).
Its shoulder height ranges from 0.6 to 0.9 meters (26–36 inches) and its weight typically varies between 32 and 62 kilograms (70–135 pounds). The gray wolf is the largest member of the family Canidae and also the most well-known of wolves. The gray wolf (Canis lupus), also known as the timber wolf or, simply, wolf, is a mammal of the order Carnivora.
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