On the other hand, crusty snow or ice favors the wolves whose wide round paws have evolved to perform like snowshoes and carry them effortlessly over the surface. An experienced wolf is well aware that hoofed animals break through the crust and can become bogged down in deep snow. Wolves have learned to use these conditions to their advantage. The late wolf biologist, Dr. Gordon Haber speaks of a particular pack in Alaska that he observed following a herd of caribou on a narrow packed trail through deep snow.
The wolves know that their mere presence, following close behind, will eventually panic the caribou. When the rearmost caribou spooks, leaving the hard trail and attempting to run to the middle of the herd, it founders in the snowdrifts.
When that happens it is all over. In warm weather, this same pack of wolves changes its tactics, herding the caribou into a dry riverbed where many of the ungulates stumble on the round stones. A wolf pack therefore weighs many different factors when selecting its target and, as circumstances change during the hunt the target may change as well.
Initially they may be pursuing a calf, but if a big healthy bull stumbles unexpectedly, they all know to go after the bigger meal. Conversely, if too many factors seem to favor the prey, they may choose to wait.
Sometimes it is better to stay a bit hungry until the odds improve rather than expend precious energy on a fruitless chase. Other observers of wolves have reported that often fewer than half of wolves on a hunt are actually involved with physically bringing down the prey.
The youngest wolves frequently do nothing more than observe and learn from the sidelines. The end result is a healthy natural relationship between predator and prey which has succeeded for hundreds of thousands of years. As predators, they serve to help keep the ecosystem in balance by hunting primarily on prey that is weak, sick or elderly, leaving stronger and healthier animals to survive and produce viable young.
Other competing predators would be cougar, coyote, bear and humans. Almost every time they are hungry, wolves must find and bring down prey. Each predator has its own tools and hunting strategies. Females typically weigh 60 to pounds, and males weigh 70 to pounds. The historic range of the gray wolf covered over two-thirds of the United States. Today gray wolves have populations in Alaska, northern Michigan, northern Wisconsin, western Montana, northern Idaho, northeast Oregon, and the Yellowstone area of Wyoming.
Mexican wolves, a subspecies of the gray wolf, were reintroduced to protected parkland in eastern Arizona and southwest New Mexico. Wolves can thrive in a diversity of habitats from the tundra to woodlands, forests, grasslands and deserts. Wolves are carnivores—they prefer to eat large hoofed mammals such as deer, elk, bison, and moose.
They also hunt smaller mammals such as beavers , rodents, and hares. Adults can eat 20 pounds of meat in a single meal. Wolves communicate through body language, scent marking, barking, growling, and howling. Much of their communication is about reinforcing the social hierarchy of the pack. When a wolf wants to show that it is submissive to another wolf, it will crouch, whimper, tuck in its tail, lick the other wolf's mouth, or roll over on its back. When a wolf wants to challenge another wolf, it will growl or lay its ears back on its head.
A playful wolf dances and bows. Barking is used as a warning, and howling is for long-distance communication to pull a pack back together and to keep strangers away. Wolves live in packs. Most packs have four to nine members, but the size can range from as few as two wolves to as many as Occasionally a pack can increase to 30 members, until some individuals break off to find new territory and form their own pack.
Within the pack hierarchy, there are male and female hierarchies. The alpha male is dominant over the entire pack, both males and females. They have silvery gray-brown backs, light tan and cream underparts, and long bushy tails. The fur can be any shade of gray, brown, black, white, or tan. In winter, their fur becomes darker on the neck, shoulders, and rump see photo below.
Where they live: Gray wolves are one of the most wide ranging land animals. They occupy a wide variety of habitats, from arctic tundra to forest, prairie, and arid landscapes. Hunting and habitat destruction have caused a steep decline in populations.
Gray wolves are now found only in a few areas of Canada and the United States.
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