The Wolf was once a much maligned animal. In the western world, people feared and hated wolves,
           and this legacy is reflected in stories such as Little Red Riding Hood and The Boy Who Cried
           Wolf. In these popular children's tales the wolf is made out to be a marauder and a killer of
           livestock and people.

           There is some basis for The Boy Who Cried Wolf, for wolves have killed cattle and sheep. But
           what of Little Red Riding Hood? There are no records of wolves killing humans in Canada or the
           United States. Yet, when wolves were spotted near rural communities, fear used to grip the
           populace. Over time this has become less prevalent. Today, many people know that scientists
           studying wolves have lived very close to dens where there were pups without being attacked. They
           have even taken pups from a den without being molested. The parents have usually run away,
           returning later only to take their young to a more private den or to a rendez-vous site (a place
           where the pack meets).

           In areas where wolves are hunted or trapped they fear people and are very wary. However, in
           remote places, such as in the Canadian Arctic, they show little fear and will often allow people to
           live near them.

           Distribution and classification

           Two hundred years ago wolves Canis lupus, also known as gray wolves, were more widely
           distributed than any other mammal of historic times. They lived in large areas of North America,
           Europe, and Asia; the only places they could not occupy were deserts, tropical rain forests, and
           peaks of the highest mountain ranges.

           Wolves still live in large areas of the northern hemisphere; however, their primitive range has been
           greatly reduced due to changes in the landscape and people's efforts to exterminate them.

           In North America, wolves have been exterminated in the Atlantic provinces, Mexico, the United
           States (except Minnesota, Alaska, and some of the western states), and the heavily populated
           areas of southern Canada. They are still common in lightly settled portions of Canada from
           Labrador to British Columbia and in the Yukon and Northwest Territories (see map).

           The red wolf C. rufus was once common in the southeastern United States. It has been eliminated
           in the wild. However, through a captive breeding program, the species is being reintroduced into its
           former range (see map).

           Physical characteristics

           "Oh, they look just like dogs," is an appropriate comment often heard near wolf pens in a zoo, for
           dogs are descendants of wolves.

           It is virtually impossible to describe the typical appearance of wolves. Wolves of many large arctic
           islands and Greenland usually appear snow-white from a distance, but closer up often reveal gray,
           black, or reddish shades. Wolves of northern North America and Eurasia vary in colour. A single
           pack may contain animals that are black, shades of gray-brown, and white. Wolves in the heavily
           forested areas of eastern North America are more uniform in colour. They are often a grizzled
           gray-brown like some German shepherd dogs.

           This colour variation is a good example of natural selection, which enables those animals best suited
           to a particular environment to survive. On the arctic islands, where much of the ground is
           snow-covered for at least nine months of the year, being white is a distinct advantage, so wolves in
           the Arctic may be nearly white. In the mottled grey, green, and brown world of the eastern forests
           the normal coat of the wolf is an effective camouflage. As a wolf moves stealthily, or rests, it blends
           into the background and is hardly seen.

           Wolves in the Arctic have extremely dense underfur, which insulates them against rigorous winters.
           Another adaptation to environment is their habit of hunting in packs, or groups, which enables them
           to kill large animals -- deer, elk, moose, caribou, bison, and muskox.

           Social behaviour and family life

 The wolves' habit of hunting in packs has resulted in the development of complex patterns of social
           behaviour. Wolves are gregarious: they not only hunt in packs or groups but live most of their lives
           with other wolves. Studies in Alaska, Minnesota, Michigan (Isle Royale), and parts of Canada
           (Algonquin Provincial Park and Jasper, Banff, and Wood Buffalo national parks) show that a family
           made up of male, female, and pups is the basic pack unit. Other adults are pups of previous years
           or, more rarely, adults from other packs. Adolescent wolves have been learning to hunt for at least
           a year, so can probably hunt big game animals, wolves' usual prey, with the rest of the pack.

           Studies of wolf packs in captivity show a highly organized social structure centering on a dominant
           male and a dominant female. A dominant wolf holds its tail high, stands stiff-legged, and bristles its
           mane. In its presence, a subservient animal cowers on the ground with its ears back or stands with
           its tail between its legs, maintaining a slinking posture.

           The pack bond is strongest during winter, when the wolves travel and hunt together. In summer,
           when the pups are young, the adults seldom go on long forays. They may hunt together occasionally
           after meeting at the den or home site where the pups are being cared for.

           Wolves differ from domestic dogs in their reproductive cycles. Male dogs can breed at any time of
           year and females every six months, whereas both male and female wolves in the wild can breed
           only once a year. In captivity, male wolves can successfully breed with more than one female.
           Breeding time varies with the latitude but most commonly occurs in March and April. After a
           nine-week gestation period, litters of five or six pups (sometimes eight or more) are born.

           Wolves usually reach sexual maturity in their second year. It is possible for younger animals to have
           pups, but this is not normally the case. A pack may include several mature females that can
           produce pups.

           Wolf pups are usually born in a den that, in coniferous forests and on tundra, is commonly dug in a
           type of soil that lends itself to digging, such as in an esker (caused by glacial meltwater) or similar
           area. In mixed forest areas the den may be located in an old pine stump or rock crevice. The pack
           usually remains at the whelping den for a month or more unless it is disturbed.

           The pups remain at whelping dens for approximately two weeks. When they begin to move around
           outside, another member of the pack may sometimes babysit while the parents go hunting.
           Occasionally, the pups are left alone for a day or longer at a time. By mid-autumn they are
           travelling with the pack and participating in hunting and other pack activities.

           Frequent play helps young wolves develop hunting skills. Mature wolves can set up ambushes or
           drive prey toward other wolves. These learned (non-instinctive) skills originated in their clumsy
           attempts as pups to hide behind obstacles and then jump out at each other. Even in winter, after
           they are almost fully grown, pups continue to play in a variety of ways &emdash; chasing around a
           tree in a forest opening or having a fast-moving game on a wilderness lake with a piece of wood or
           garbage as the prize.

  Wolves are territorial. Each pack occupies an area that it will defend against intruders. Sizes of
           territories vary greatly and are dependent on the kind and abundance of prey available. When
           neighbouring packs trespass into each other's territories, fights often ensue that frequently result in
           the death of pack members. Subordinate wolves in the hierarchy are often forced out of the packs.
           When this happens, the lone wolves may find mates, then search for unoccupied areas where they
           can establish new packs.

           Howling

           The howling of a wolf pack is one of the most awe-inspiring wilderness sounds. It is a form of
           communication among wolf packs.

           Wolves often howl spontaneously at a rendezvous site. This howling may be a form of "song-fest,"
           for the wolves apparently enjoy it. In one instance, a pack of arctic wolves separated from some
           pups by a fast-flowing river howled frequently for several hours. As they did so, the pups moved
           anxiously along the river bank. This howling seemed to be a form of calling or coaxing. Howling by
           a pack may also be a way of warning other packs to keep away from occupied territory and may
           serve to separate packs.

           Hunting and food habits

           Wolves' chief prey are large mammals such as deer, moose, caribou, elk, bison, and muskox.
           Wolves also eat a variety of smaller mammals and birds, but these rarely make up more than a
           small part of their diet.

           Wolves work hard for their food. They have to. Studies show that they kill only about one large
           mammal for every 10 chased. In winter, they usually kill old or young animals when these are
           available, but when prey numbers decline they prey on all age groups, and it may take the entire
           pack to bring an animal down. In summer, much of the wolves' diet comprises young animals born
           that year, because they are easiest to catch.

           In winter, scientists can study the hunting behaviour of wolves from aircraft, using radio transmitters,
           or by following their tracks in the snow. More recently, scientists have used collars that monitor
           movements by satellite technology.

           Opportunities for watching summer hunts are rare; therefore, much less is known about hunting
           habits in this season. Because wolves usually travel alone or in pairs in summer, much of the hunting
           may be of a different nature. Stealthy stalking may play a large part in summertime hunting,
           according to one scientist who has studied wolves intensively.

           Relations with people

           People have long practised population control and extermination of wolves. At times, governments
           have paid a sum of money, called a bounty, for each animal killed. In Canada, the first bounty
           payment was made in Ontario (then Upper Canada) in 1792. Eventually bounties were paid in
           every province and territory inhabited by wolves, but by 1973 they had been discontinued at the
           provincial and territorial level, except in the Northwest Territories. When Ontario repealed the wolf
           bounty in November 1972, it was replaced by the Wolf Damage to Livestock Compensation Act,
           which makes cash payments to farmers whose livestock is damaged by wolves or coyotes. In
           Quebec, bounties are occasionally offered by certain municipalities; however, since 1984 trapping
           and hunting of wolves is only allowed during part of the year. British Columbia and the prairie
           provinces now use traps and poisons to kill wolves inhabiting areas where they may threaten
           livestock or game populations.

           Wolves prey on big game animals and help to control their populations. Where wolves are absent
           (for example, Anticosti Island, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin), white-tailed deer have overpopulated
           their ranges and damaged forests. Food shortages and mass starvation of deer during the winter
           sometimes follow. Where wolves remain, hunting by humans and easier access to big game in
           wilderness areas has led to increasing competition between people and wolves for game animals, as
           elk, moose, deer, and caribou numbers decline.

           Wolves have already been exterminated in many places. However, there may be less danger of
           such excesses in the future, as wolf control is increasingly based on biology rather than emotion.
           There is now a greater awareness among people (hunters and others) that the killing by wolves of
           deer and other prey species, which we may want for ourselves, is not a sufficient reason for the
           extermination of wolves. Sometimes populations of game animals are critically low, so on biological
           grounds wolf control could be justified; however, control programs are always opposed by
           ever-increasing urban populations. Proposed wolf culls have become major political issues in many
           areas in North America. When controls are carried out, they need to be done to meet certain
           criteria, which are based on sound scientific information and stewardship of wildlife populations.

           In the wilderness scheme of things wolves play an important role. And from a human point of view,
           the great interest and value of having this intelligent animal as part of our wilderness heritage should
           be sufficient justification for allowing it to survive in a wide variety of wilderness and
           semi-wilderness areas of Canada.

           Reading list

                Carbyn, L.N., editor. 1983. Wolves in Canada and Alaska: their status, biology, and
                management. Proceedings of a wolf symposium held in Edmonton, 12-14 May 1981.
                Canadian Wildlife Service Report Series No. 45. Ottawa.

                Carbyn, L.N. 1987. Gray wolf and red wolf. Pages 358-376 in M. Novak, J.A. Baker,
                M.E. Obbard, and B. Malloch. eds. Wild furbearer management and conservation in North
                America. Ontario Trappers Association. North Bay, Ontario.

                Harrington, F. and P. Paquet, editors. 1982. Wolves of the world: perspectives of behavior,
                ecology and conservation. Proceedings of a wolf symposium held in Portland, Oregon,
                August 1979. Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, New Jersey.

                Mech, L.D. 1970. The wolf: the ecology and behavior of an endangered species. The
                Natural History Press. New York.

                Murie, A. 1944. The wolves of Mount McKinley, U.S. National Parks Service Fauna
                Series No. 5. Washington, D.C.

                Peterson, R.O. 1977. Wolf ecology and prey relationships on Isle Royale. U.S. National
                Parks Service Fauna Series No. 11. Washington, D.C.

                Rutter, R.J. and D.H. Pimlott. 1968. The world of the wolf. Lippincott. New York.
 
 

                Published by the Authority of the Minister of the Environment
                © Minister of Supply and Services Canada, 1973, 1984, 1988, 1993
                Catalogue No.CW69-4/19-1993E
                ISBN: 0-662-21021-2
                Text: D.H. Pimlott
                Revised by L. Carbyn, 1993
                Photo: Tom W. Hall