Post by Chaos's Grave on Oct 23, 2005 19:57:04 GMT -5
Wolf Behavior
Wolves are the most social species of the dog family. They live and hunt in highly organised packs. They are playful and curious and display considerable family feeling in that breeding pairs mate for life, the whole pack participates in the care and education of the young, obvious delight is shown when they recognise fellow pack members and they seem to enjoy doing things together. However, they can also be extremely harsh, a characteristic that is necessitated by life in the wild. This is shown in their treatment of the old or sick that are made outcasts when they have outlived their usefullness, ruthlessness towards members of rival packs and the fact that they will kill almost any animal worth eating (except humans. Only a starving, threatened or rabid wolf is likely to attack humans).
Travel
Wolves can travel long distances in search of food. Travelling 48 km (30 miles) a day is not unusual for the average wolf pack. In fact, it has been recorded that a pack in Alaska travelled 1126km (700 miles) in 42 days.
They are not fast runners. They run at about 38 km (24 miles)/h and can reach 45 km (28 miles)/h for short distances (A cheetah can reach 96 km (60 miles)/h). However, they can keep up a steady loping run for many hours and because of their great stamina, they can outrun most large game animals.
Pack Life
The larger the local prey, the larger the packs tend to be. It can be anything from 2 to 25 animals, and though the average is about 5 to 6, packs in Alaska have been recorded to number as many as 36 individuals.
The pack is led by a top male and female known as the 'alpha' pair. The second male and female are known as the "beta" pair and, along with the other adult members of the pack, do not breed. At the bottom of the pack are the outcasts (old, sick or week animals), pups and other wolves under 2 years old.
Although the order of ranking within a pack in often challenged, wolves rarely fight to inflight wounds. Instead fights are acted out according to set patterns using a number of experissions and body postures in 'ritual confrontations'.
Alpha Pair
This is the only breeding pair in the pack and have won their position by either having started the pack or by proving their strength over the other pack members. The alpha male is rarely aggressive towards the memebrs of his pack, and can actually be quite tolerant of them, as if encouraging them and keeping up their morale. He will even willingly tolerate pups biting, nipping, and generally disturbing him, for as long as they want.
Communication
Sight: Wolves have a lot of body language (can be quite subtle) and facial expressions for visual communication. For example, a frightened or insecure wolf keeps it's teeth covered, pulls the corners of it's mouth back in a 'grin", narrows its eyes to slits, smooths it's forehead and flattens it's ears against it's head. In contrast, a confident, threatening expression includes bared teeth, mouth corners forward, wrinkled muzzle, frowning forehead and erect, forward pointing ears.
Smell: Leaving scent-marks of urine and secretions from glands in their paws can inform other wolves of territorial boundaries and provide information about sex, status and movements.
Sounds: Close together they use whimpers, whines, squeeks, yelps, barks, snarls and growls. Over long distances they use howls either to locate fellow pack memebr or to advertise their presence to other wolf packs.
Hunting
As wolves travel and hunt mostly at night, their eyesight is quite poor. Instead, they rely mostly on their superb hearing and sense of smell. Where large prey is available, they hunt in packs, spending most of their time in search of food.
The pack gathers, and maybe after a 'group howl', sets off in single file, with the alpha male in the lead, into the depts of it's territory. On the way burrows are investigated for edible occupants and empty ones are scent-marked so that no time will be wasted on a future hunt.
Wolves hunt as a team, utilising each wolf's ability to the pack's greatest advantage. When prey are found, some members of the pack may crouch and stalk slowly while another acts as a decoy and the rest move in for a surprise attack. The more powerful runners move in once the prey has started to move and sometimes, one or two wolves run ahead, out of sight of the prey, to cut off any possible escape routes. Normally, when hunting a herd, the pack will single out a weak or young individual, scattering the heard to separate the target animal. The chase can stretch over many kilometers untile it tires and a wolf can reach it. The prey is first bitten in the rear and evnetually bitten in the neck of head to kill it. While hunting cats tend to go for the back of the neck, wolves go for the throat.
Territory
Each wolf pack establishes it's own territory. This is the land on which it hunts and where it's den is situated. The size of the territory depends on the available prey and can cary from 100 square 2 (400 square miles) to over 1000 km2 (400 square miles). The boundaries of territories may change as, or if, the pack migrates.
The Den
This is the site the adults always return to no matter how far they travel. It is usually situated above ground and serves as the pack headquaters. This is where the young pups are left, guarded by some adults, when the pack is off hunting.
The boundaries of their territory are marked by spraying permanent objectssuch as trees and boulders, with urine and scent from a gland under the tail and in the paws. Most of the marking is done by the alpha male but other members of the pack will add their marks to his. There is normally a 'no-go' area of about 1 km between territories of enighbouring wolf packs. The scent of a 'foreigner' within the territory will be'over-marked' with their scent.
Life Cycle
The gestation period is about 36 days and the litter size is about 5 to 6 pups weighing in at about 450g at birth. The eyes open after 2 to 3 weeks and the pups start walking at around 3 weeks. They are weaned at 5 to 6 weeks and leave the den at 8 to 10 weeks. The top pup is established after about 12 weeks. The pups follow the pack for about 3 to 5 months, reach independence at around 10 months and are fully gorwn by 18 months. They only reach sexual maturity however after 2 years for the females and 3 years for the males. Wolves in the wild live for about 15 to 16 years and have been known to live for up to 20 years in captivity.
Wolves are the most social species of the dog family. They live and hunt in highly organised packs. They are playful and curious and display considerable family feeling in that breeding pairs mate for life, the whole pack participates in the care and education of the young, obvious delight is shown when they recognise fellow pack members and they seem to enjoy doing things together. However, they can also be extremely harsh, a characteristic that is necessitated by life in the wild. This is shown in their treatment of the old or sick that are made outcasts when they have outlived their usefullness, ruthlessness towards members of rival packs and the fact that they will kill almost any animal worth eating (except humans. Only a starving, threatened or rabid wolf is likely to attack humans).
Travel
Wolves can travel long distances in search of food. Travelling 48 km (30 miles) a day is not unusual for the average wolf pack. In fact, it has been recorded that a pack in Alaska travelled 1126km (700 miles) in 42 days.
They are not fast runners. They run at about 38 km (24 miles)/h and can reach 45 km (28 miles)/h for short distances (A cheetah can reach 96 km (60 miles)/h). However, they can keep up a steady loping run for many hours and because of their great stamina, they can outrun most large game animals.
Pack Life
The larger the local prey, the larger the packs tend to be. It can be anything from 2 to 25 animals, and though the average is about 5 to 6, packs in Alaska have been recorded to number as many as 36 individuals.
The pack is led by a top male and female known as the 'alpha' pair. The second male and female are known as the "beta" pair and, along with the other adult members of the pack, do not breed. At the bottom of the pack are the outcasts (old, sick or week animals), pups and other wolves under 2 years old.
Although the order of ranking within a pack in often challenged, wolves rarely fight to inflight wounds. Instead fights are acted out according to set patterns using a number of experissions and body postures in 'ritual confrontations'.
Alpha Pair
This is the only breeding pair in the pack and have won their position by either having started the pack or by proving their strength over the other pack members. The alpha male is rarely aggressive towards the memebrs of his pack, and can actually be quite tolerant of them, as if encouraging them and keeping up their morale. He will even willingly tolerate pups biting, nipping, and generally disturbing him, for as long as they want.
Communication
Sight: Wolves have a lot of body language (can be quite subtle) and facial expressions for visual communication. For example, a frightened or insecure wolf keeps it's teeth covered, pulls the corners of it's mouth back in a 'grin", narrows its eyes to slits, smooths it's forehead and flattens it's ears against it's head. In contrast, a confident, threatening expression includes bared teeth, mouth corners forward, wrinkled muzzle, frowning forehead and erect, forward pointing ears.
Smell: Leaving scent-marks of urine and secretions from glands in their paws can inform other wolves of territorial boundaries and provide information about sex, status and movements.
Sounds: Close together they use whimpers, whines, squeeks, yelps, barks, snarls and growls. Over long distances they use howls either to locate fellow pack memebr or to advertise their presence to other wolf packs.
Hunting
As wolves travel and hunt mostly at night, their eyesight is quite poor. Instead, they rely mostly on their superb hearing and sense of smell. Where large prey is available, they hunt in packs, spending most of their time in search of food.
The pack gathers, and maybe after a 'group howl', sets off in single file, with the alpha male in the lead, into the depts of it's territory. On the way burrows are investigated for edible occupants and empty ones are scent-marked so that no time will be wasted on a future hunt.
Wolves hunt as a team, utilising each wolf's ability to the pack's greatest advantage. When prey are found, some members of the pack may crouch and stalk slowly while another acts as a decoy and the rest move in for a surprise attack. The more powerful runners move in once the prey has started to move and sometimes, one or two wolves run ahead, out of sight of the prey, to cut off any possible escape routes. Normally, when hunting a herd, the pack will single out a weak or young individual, scattering the heard to separate the target animal. The chase can stretch over many kilometers untile it tires and a wolf can reach it. The prey is first bitten in the rear and evnetually bitten in the neck of head to kill it. While hunting cats tend to go for the back of the neck, wolves go for the throat.
Territory
Each wolf pack establishes it's own territory. This is the land on which it hunts and where it's den is situated. The size of the territory depends on the available prey and can cary from 100 square 2 (400 square miles) to over 1000 km2 (400 square miles). The boundaries of territories may change as, or if, the pack migrates.
The Den
This is the site the adults always return to no matter how far they travel. It is usually situated above ground and serves as the pack headquaters. This is where the young pups are left, guarded by some adults, when the pack is off hunting.
The boundaries of their territory are marked by spraying permanent objectssuch as trees and boulders, with urine and scent from a gland under the tail and in the paws. Most of the marking is done by the alpha male but other members of the pack will add their marks to his. There is normally a 'no-go' area of about 1 km between territories of enighbouring wolf packs. The scent of a 'foreigner' within the territory will be'over-marked' with their scent.
Life Cycle
The gestation period is about 36 days and the litter size is about 5 to 6 pups weighing in at about 450g at birth. The eyes open after 2 to 3 weeks and the pups start walking at around 3 weeks. They are weaned at 5 to 6 weeks and leave the den at 8 to 10 weeks. The top pup is established after about 12 weeks. The pups follow the pack for about 3 to 5 months, reach independence at around 10 months and are fully gorwn by 18 months. They only reach sexual maturity however after 2 years for the females and 3 years for the males. Wolves in the wild live for about 15 to 16 years and have been known to live for up to 20 years in captivity.