![]() In autumn the pack starts to travel again within its territory, and the pups must keep up. The pups grow rapidly and are moved farther and more often as summer comes to an end. ![]() After a few weeks the pups are usually moved from the den to an aboveground “rendezvous site,” where they play and sleep while adults hunt. Throughout spring and summer the pups are the centre of attention as well as the geographic focus of the pack’s activities. After being weaned from their mother’s milk at six to nine weeks, they are fed a diet of regurgitated meat. All members of the pack care solicitously for the young. A rock crevice, hollow log, overturned stump, or abandoned beaver lodge may be used as a den, and even a depression beneath the lower branches of a conifer will sometimes suffice. The young are usually born in a den consisting of a natural hole or a burrow, often in a hillside. Intruders are often killed by resident packs, yet in some circumstances they are accepted.īreeding 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. Along with howling, marking of territory with urine and feces lets neighbouring packs know they should not intrude. Howling helps the pack stay in contact and also seems to strengthen social bonds among pack members. Wolves communicate with one another by visual signaling (facial expression, body position, tail position), vocalizations, and scent marking. Both sexes are very active in attacking and killing prey, but during the summer hunts are often conducted alone.Ī pack’s territory can be 80 to 3,000 square km (31 to 1,200 square miles), depending on prey abundance, and it is vigorously defended against neighbouring packs. ![]() The female predominates in roles such as care and defense of pups, whereas the male predominates in foraging and food provisioning and in travels associated with those activities. The alpha male and alpha female continually assert themselves over their subordinates, and they guide the activities of the group. A dominance hierarchy is established within the pack, which helps maintain order. ![]() The ability of wolves to form strong social bonds with one another is what makes the wolf pack possible. A pack is basically a family group consisting of an adult breeding pair (the alpha male and alpha female) and their offspring of various ages. Gray wolves usually live in packs of up to two dozen individuals packs numbering 6 to 10 are most common. Light-coloured wolves are common in Arctic regions. Fur on the upper body, though usually gray, may be brown, reddish, black, or whitish, while the underparts and legs are usually yellow-white. The smallest tend to be near the southern end of their distribution (the Middle East, Arabia, and India). The largest wolves are found in west-central Canada, Alaska, and across northern Asia. Females average about 20 percent smaller than males. Standing 76 cm (30 inches) tall at the shoulder, it weighs about 45 kg (100 pounds), but weight ranges from 14 to 65 kg (31 to 143 pounds), depending on the geographic area. A typical northern male may be about 2 metres (6.6 feet) long, including the bushy half-metre-long tail. Keen senses, large canine teeth, powerful jaws, and the ability to pursue prey at 60 km (37 miles) per hour equip the gray wolf well for a predatory way of life.
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