By Bryanna
Do you think wolves are big and bad, ready to gobble up little children who wonder too far into the woods? If you do, you are dreadfully wrong. Those stories about wolves eating humans have not only given wolves a false appearance but also a bad name. All because of these stories wolves have been hated and feared for years. They have been disliked because people just don’t understand them.
The pecking order
Have you ever read a story in which one wolf wanders on alone? This is not usually how wolves live. Wolves live in a group called a pack. Each wolf knows its rank or where its place is in the pack. The leader of the pack is called the alpha male. He leads the pack along with his mate, the alpha female. They have equal power and they are usually the two strongest or smartest wolves in the pack. In larger packs the alpha pair are the only wolves to have pups (baby wolves). The pups, when they are born, are usually at the lowest rank---although they are not pushed around by the other higher-ranking wolves. In some large packs there is wolf called the Omega wolf The Omega wolf is the lowest-ranking wolf in the entire pack. Pups usually disobey Omega wolves and grow up to be in a higher position that the Omega wolf. All of the other wolves bite and bully the Omega wolf especially the alpha pair who often think of the lowest- ranking wolf as a nuisance.
Sometimes there is a second-in-command-wolf called a Beta wolf. The Beta wolf is the peace maker of the pack but he/she will fight to keep its spot as the alphas’ right hand wolf.
Pack life
Life in a wolf pack can be great or cruel. Pups for example have the most comfortable lives. All of the pack members love and care for them, feed, play and teach them the skills they will need when they are adults. But not only do the wolves play and care for each other, they but also with the fully grown wolves, Sometimes when the pack is not hunting, fighting, traveling, or doing any other wolf business, they ill jut play with one another.
One way wolves play is one wolf will grab a stick or a bone and taunt its friend by shaking it in front of their face. If the other wolf is in the mood he/she will chase the other wolf for the toy. This is often how mates (a male and female wolf who stick together until death parts them) play with each other. Playing is just one way of showing affection.
All wolves adore the alpha pair. They will roll over, obey, play, and even eat only when the alpha say so. But the alphas do a lot more than just order their pack around. Each pack has a limited amount of land to hunt, and roam. This land is called their territory. The alphas are responsible for setting the boundaries. They rub against or mark with their sent anything around the border so that other wolves know that that is where another wolf pack lives. But these jobs don’t always belong to the alpha pair because many other wolves would like to be a leader too.
These wolves will challenge the current alphas/alpha. The fight usually starts by surprise. The alpha/alphas will be doing their business or sent marking the territory and the challenger will attack out of his/her hiding place in the bushes or from behind a rock. The alpha will rarely fight back. Its first attempt to keep its rank is to growl in a threatening way. If that doesn’t work the alpha will raise his/her head and tail then snarl at the other wolf. This means “I am stronger, do not mess with me”. If the other wolf still doesn’t back down, the alpha wolf will try and pin the other wolf down with the challenger’s belly and throat exposed to the open. This means that the other wolf is weaker and is giving up. If the challenger happens to pin the alpha down(which rarely happens) the alpha wolf will either kill the challenger or call his/her mate and leave to start a new pack leaving the other wolf to lead the old one.
Sometimes this happens with young wolves that are actually driven out of their pack for breaking the alpha’s rules or acting like a pest (nipping at older and stronger wolves, or even by trying to challenge the alpha too many times.) Most of the time, they only do this because they can not stand not being the leader but are not strong enough to beat the alpha. These wolves become lone wolves, a wolf without a pack or family. They usually meet up with another lone wolf of the opposite gender and start their own pack or they will try and join another wolf pack.
Wolves, Dogs and their cousins
Did you ever wonder if your dog was a wolf? Well first of all wolves are a lot larger than most dogs. However all dogs are descendents from wolves, tamed by humans centuries ago. Although dogs are wolves, wolves are not dogs. Dogs can learn to trust humans. Wolves can too, but only to a certain extent. You never know when a wolf will turn on you, even after it is “trained”! Dogs and wolves may seem very different but they are also very much alike. For instance they both live in a pack. For a wolf, their pack is a group of wolves with two wolf leaders. But for your dog, you and your family are its pack and the leaders are probably whoever pays most attention to it. Dogs are not the only cousins to wolves. Foxes and Coyotes are also closely related to wolves. Coyotes and foxes don’t live in packs all the time but they do have four long teeth, two on the bottom or their mouth and two more on the top. These teeth are called fangs, or canine teeth. Also they all have soft pads on the bottom of their feet to keep their feet from getting splintered or worn down easily. Another animal that has pads is the cat. A cat is not related to the wolf but he/she also has canine teeth and pads. The main difference is cats have retractable nails and attack with their razor-sharp claws as well, while wolves and their cousins attack with their teeth.
Do wolves feel fear?
You may have thought wolves fear nothing. But that is not true. Wolves actually have many things to fear. Lynx are a powerful enemy of wolves. Their long claws are perfect for shredding a wolves’ pelt and their thick fur is great for shielding itself from a wolf’s own blows. Some wolves are stronger than others and the weaker wolves must worry about being seriously injured or even killed by the stronger wolf’s attack. But the thing wolves fear the most are humans. Imagine that you are a wolf hunter. You see a family of wolves by a den. You raise your gun and shoot them---all of them, even the pups. You gather them up. It is your lucky day. You meet your friends that were hunting with you in a clearing. They tell you that they have also shot a good number of wolves. Now take that number of wolves you and your friends shot and multiply it by around 1,000,000. That’s around how many wolves are being killed by humans each year!
The red wolf only has from 300-400 wolves left of its species in the entire world. If humans keep this up, these beautiful creatures will be wiped off the face of the earth, never to be seen again.
Howling
Many people fear the howl of the wolf but really there is nothing to be afraid of. The wolf may just be howling to tell other wolves where they are. Wolves howl for many more reasons also. One howl is the mating howl. It is usually the howl that you will hear on a warm spring or summer night in the woods. This howl is confident and loud. Another howl is the lone-wolf howl. The lonely wolf may be looking for a pack or simply letting other wolves know that they are not dangerous to their pack. That howl is usually long and lonely. There is also the hunting howl. It is made up of a chorus of wolves howling together, gathering around to celebrate the hunt. This happy howl is also used when a wolf has just become an alpha or just won a fight. But you don’t have to worry about this howl. The only animal that has to worry is the deer, elk, or caribou. The lat howl is that of a sad wolf. This howl is only sung when a wolf is in pain or sorrow. (Like if a wolf loses a mate or pup). This howl starts out low and then climbs the musical scale slowly to quite a high note. Then it starts back down again. More and more wolves sing this sad song as their mates, children, parents, or other loved ones are shot down by the gun of a human. One by one wolves are pushed closer to the edge of extinction. So now that you know more about wolves you can help them stay on the earth and continue to live peacefully.