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. The alpha female and male are the only ones that breed. When the young adults reach the age of three, they can either join the pack or leave to find their own territory.
The new territory can be close by if there is a lot of prey. In some areas, young adults travel hundreds of miles to find a new territory. Wolves typically mate for life. In the northern United States, they breed from late January through March. The breeding season is earlier for wolves living farther south.
Wolves are pregnant for about 63 days and usually birth four to six pups. The wolf pups are usually born in a den. At birth, they cannot see or hear and weigh about one pound. The pups are weaned at about six weeks. Adult pack members swallow meat and bring it back to the den for their pups. After the adults regurgitate the food, the pups have a hearty meal. The mother wolf moves her pups to new den sites every couple of months until the fall, when the pack stops living at den sites.
In the wild, wolves live 8 to 13 years, sometimes more. Grey Wolves stand between 32 inches at the shoulder. Wolves can appear much larger than they already are, this is because of their long fur. In winter when their fur is fully grown, their fur can be as long as 2 — 2. The hairs in their mane can be as long as 4 — 5 inches long and when stood upright, this makes them appear taller.
The length of the Grey Wolf varies between 50 and 70 inches long from nose tip to tail tip. A third of this length is the length of its tail. Compared to a large dog, a wolf has a narrower chest and longer legs.
Because their chests are narrow, their left and right footprints are closer together than those of a dogs. Grey Wolves have very strong jaws. Wolves have 42 teeth altogether. These consist of: 12 incisors, 4 canines, 16 pre-molars and 10 carnassials and molars. A wolfs canine teeth can be as long as 1 inch long. A wolfs teeth are extremely sharp, strong and slightly curved. This enables them to grasp their prey in their teeth and chew down to the soft marrow in the bones.
It also helps the wolf to eat nearly all of its prey, leaving very little waste. When the pups are born, they are cared for by all of the adult wolves in the pack.
Young pups start off drinking milk from their mother, but around five to 10 weeks they will start eating food regurgitated from adult pack members.
At six months, wolf pups become hunters, and at 2 years old they are considered adults. On average, a wolf will live four to eight years in the wild. Though wolves once roamed far and wide, they are very scarce today. According to the National Parks Conservation Association, there are 20 to 80 red wolves currently living in the wild. The Eastern wolf is threatened and is protected in Canada. Packs of wolves don't like to stay in one place. They are known to travel as far as 12 miles 20 kilometers per day.
Wolves have friends. Wolves howl to communicate with other members of the pack. Researchers have found that they howl more to pack members that they spend the more time with. There are many names for gray wolves. Besides timber wolf, they are also called common wolf, tundra wolf, Mexican wolf and plains wolf.
Wolves communicate with more than howls. They whimper and whine, growl and bark, yelp and snarl. They also use scents produced by their bodies to communicate. One source of scent is urine, which they use to mark territory and to tell other wolves in their own pack where they are.
Another way wolves communicate is through body language. If a wolf feels confident, it will approach another wolf with its head and tail held high and ears perked up. If you saw a wolf slinking toward another with its body lowered, its tail between its legs, and its ears flattened, you'd know it was approaching a dominant animal. When a pack of wolves does howl, it can be heard from ten miles away. The howl is used as a way to call to another pack or warn of danger.
When a wolf wants to play, it prances about happily and bows—lowering the front of its body while its rump stays up in the air with its tail wagging.
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