Wolves develop close relationships and strong social bonds. They often demonstrate deep affection for their family and may even sacrifice themselves to protect the family unit. Find out more about these amazing creatures!
- Wolves are the largest members of the Canidae family, which includes domestic dogs, coyotes, dingoes, African hunting dogs, many types of foxes, and several kinds of jackals
- The earliest drawings of wolves are in caves in southern Europe and date from 20,000 B.C
- Wolves run on their toes, which helps them to stop and turn quickly and to prevent their paw pads from wearing down
- Wolves can run up to 35 miles per hour. They usually reach these speeds during a chase and do not usually run at full speed until they are very close to their prey
- Wolves have about 200 million scent cells. Humans have only about 5 million. Wolves can smell other animals more than one mile (1.6 kilometers) away
- Under certain conditions, wolves can hear as far as six miles away in the forest and ten miles on the open tundra
- Immense power is concentrated in a wolf’s jaw. It has a crushing pressure of nearly 1,500 pound per square inch (compared with around 750 for a large dog). The jaws themselves are massive, bearing 42 teeth specialized for stabbing, shearing, and crunching bones. Their jaws also open farther than those of a dog
- A hungry wolf can eat 20 pounds of meat in a single meal, which is akin to a human eating one hundred hamburgers
- Wolves are able to go 12 days in between meals. It is not ideal, but is sometimes necessary
- Wolves can swim distances of up to 8 miles (13 kilometers) aided by small webs between their toes
- The outer perimeter of a wolf’s retina is highly sensitive to movement, giving them great vision. On top of that they have great night vision and excellent peripheral vision
- Wolves are always on the move trying to hunt prey. This adds up over time, leading to approximately a third of their life being spent roaming
- Wolves and ravens have a very interesting relationship. The birds often follow packs in hopes of picking up their leftovers. Wolves have also learned to look for ravens as a potential sign of food ahead
- A wolf pack may contain just two or three animals, or it may be 10 times as large
- A wolf howl can be used to contact separated members of their group, to rally the pack before hunting, or to warn rival packs to keep away. Usually howls last around five seconds
- The alpha male and beta female mate for life and their packs are loosely analogous to human nuclear families
- Wolf gestation is around 65 days. Wolf pups are born both deaf and blind and weigh only one pound
- A wolf pup’s eyes are blue at birth. Their eyes turn yellow by the time they are eight months old
- When pups are old enough to leave the den, they become the responsibility of the entire pack. They are shown affection from all members of the pack and are trained by everyone
- Wolves have an average life span of between six and eight years. Sometimes they live up to 13 years and those in captivity have lived up to 16 years
- Wolves were once the most widely distributed land predator the world has ever seen. The only places they didn’t thrive were in the true desert and rainforests
- The Japanese word for wolf means “great god.”
