wolves

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All dogs that we know nowadays, as pets descent from the wolf.  Scientists have proved that the wolf is the ancestor of our dogs by blood samples, skelet- and behaviourcomparisons.

There are many different species among the wolf, look further down for more info.

In fairytales the wolf has been always shown as a mean, hungry, man-eating monster that everybody was afraid off.

The crazy thing is that is reflection is not stroking with reality at all. A wolf will never attack a human being, never the less kill it, even not if he is extremely hungry. 

However many people are afraid of the wolf.  This fear finds his cause in the early days when the wolf killed the sheep on farmer land and howled very intrigent.  The wolf is however the most social among mammals that are living on this planet.  It is by the social nature of this creature that the descendants of the wolf (dogs) have the most closes connection with human beings.

The social nature of the wolf expresses itself in the fact that wolf are living in families, we call this a herd. A herd exists out of 6 upto 15 animals depending on the season of the year and the presence of pray.  Within the herd the animals live with a couple of standard rules.

In that way there is a wolf-couple boss over the rest of the herd.  Most of the times it is the male that is boss, this we call a 'alpha-male' and he lives with his chosen female, the 'alpha-female'.  Those animals are most likely the strongest, smartest and most experienced animals among the herd.  Because this couple is the strongest and healthiest, only they can produce pups.  That way the herd produces strong descendants, this is only to keep them alive.

 

The hierarchies of a wolf herd :  you can compare it with a ladder : on top the alpha male, then aside him the alpha female.
Then the other adult wolf follow, then the young wolf, then the pups and all on the bottom it is the underdog.   The underdog is a wolf that doesn't suite the herd and it is the 'nerd' of the herd.  The underdog is the weakest of the family and in fact a poor thing, that has nothing to say in the herd.  Never the less he has an important role in the herd, because he is the weakest every other dog of the herd can work out its frustration on him, he has to let it happen and can not do anything back to the herd, otherwise he will be killed or chased away from the herd which means the same because a wolf has a difficulty surviving alone. (note : pups until 4 months old get advantage on pray after 4 months they take their place in the herd and have to wait their turns to eat)

The alpha male is boss over the other wolf and they have to obey him all time.  Beneed him it is the alpha female, she herself has to obey him, but all other female dogs in the herd have to obey her. 

Then the adult wolf.  These animals obey the alpha male and they are on their turn boss over the animals below them on the ladder, the young wolf , pups and the underdog.

Like you can expect the leader of the pack has certain privileges.  He alone can reproduce, he can eat as first from the pray, he gives the lead. Also if other adult dogs from the herd come up with an idea, like going on hunt, the alpha male will take the lead during the hunt.  Another important task of the alpha male is testing the young born pups. 21 days after birth the pups leave for the first time the nest.  The alpha male is already waiting the pups and handles them roughly.  Not to hurt them intendently but to see if the pups will obey the boss.  Because wolf live in packs, and like you read before in this text the pups are almost below on the ladder they have to obey and submit themselves to the leader of the pack and others.   If a young pup does not submit himself then he is in fact asocial and not meant to live in a herd.  The alpha male will kill these pups instantly.  If they do submit themselves to the alpha male, the pups can stay alive and immediately return to mom.   Sick animals are also killed or banned from the herd because they can mean a danger for the pack.

The pups that are so roughly tested by the alpha male will grow up and leave the pack when they are old enough to start their own herd and family.  To survive in an independent herd they have to obey the force of nature : the surviving of the fittest.

Wolves are only fertile in the colder months of the year so that the pups are always born with the spring.  This helps to survive, but anyway only 2 out of 10 pups will survive.  The others die by lack of pray (food), killing by natural enemies like bears, or as a cause of internal parasites like worms.

The advantage of this natural selection is that only the strongest wolf stay alive and reproduce strong and special kind of it own.  Disorders like hipdysplasia or cataract doesn't occur in wolf, but are common in dogs. 

The wolves live in an by them chosen area, named a territory.  in this area there are no other animals aloud.  The territory has a social area, this is where all wolves from the pack and it has also a private area, this is the place of a wolf alone.  You can compare this with the personal area of a dog basket.  And the social area is the house where it is living in.   Outside the territory lays the living and hunting area.  This area is quite large and lays around the territory.  Compare to the neighborhood where your house is in.

Wolves can pass information to one another and understand this by a very complex communication system.  This happens with hearing of noises (audit information) and also by seeing other wolves (visual information).

Wolves have different ways to produce noise :  howling, squeaking, mooring,... Each noise has it own meaning.  By howling a herd wants to make clear where they are at and it makes the herd connection stronger.

With his body a wolf can make clear how he is feeling.  The position of the body, tail and ears he gives information to other wolf.  Like 'I'm submitting' or  'I feel the strongest here' or 'I am afraid' 
 

The future :

The latest years biologists and other scientists are more and more sure that the wolf plays an important role in nature.  The task a wolf can fulfill is the balance of animal life in nature.  Luckily there are wolf noticed in East-Europe and more and more people are coming to their senses and see that the wolf is a noble animal.  Throughout the whole world there are approximately 100 upto 150.000 wolves alive in nature.  Specially in Canada and Russia there are still many populations.  These numbers seem much but if you compare that with the fact that in The Netherlands alone, already 1.100.000 dogs are living, then it seems incredibly a low number of wolves.  In West-Europe there are approximately 4000 wolves, mainly in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Finland and Greece.  In East-European countries the numbers are rated upto 10 to 20.000 animals (excluding Russia).

some wolfbreeds

1. the grey wolf    2. the red wolf   3. the artic wolf   4. the European wolf

5. the Mexican wolf  6. the maned wolf   7. the hybrid