About Wolves   General Information  Classification: Wolves belong to the family Canidae. The gray wolf and arctic wolf are genus Canis, species C. Lupus. The red wolf is species C. Niger.  Appearance: The wolf is a much larger version of a dog, specifically a German Sheppard, with longer legs and larger feet. It also has more powerful jaws, a wider head, and short rounded ears that always stand straight up. In the winter wolves develop a very thick coat with layers of fine soft fur that provide warmth and insulation and protects against rain and wet snow. The tail of a wolf is very bushy and will stand out slightly from the body and angle toward the ground when the animal is on alert with one of its senses.  Most male wolves can weigh up to 125 pounds and some even heavier at 150 pounds. The females tend to be smaller is structure and size generally weighing from 65 to 85 pounds. The large feet help wolves adapt to their terrain, which in the winter can be on top of several feet of snow. They have a particular lope that allows their body to function at its best, traveling often for hours at about twenty miles per hour. The color of wolves can not be relied upon to make a clear distinction between the species, as they can be gray, white, black, brown with varying degrees of all of the colors in their fur. In general however the wolves in the northern regions tend to be lighter in color, while the Mexican wolf living in the southern states is much darker. The Arctic wolf can be pure white. The Timber wolf is often called the Gray wolf, because most of these animals have thick gray fur, but some Timber wolves can be black or even white. The Eastern Red Wolf gets its name from its reddish coat.  Social Structure:  Wolves often mate for life and live with a group of other wolves called 'the pack'. Wolf cubs are born in the spring generally in April and May. The number of cubs born varies from two upwards to ten, much of this is dependent on how successful the pack is at finding food and shelter. The parents of the cubs devote a lot of time caring for them, feeding them, grooming them and training the cubs. The pack is always made up of an Alpha male and an Alpha female and depending on their number, there can be a beta male and female as well. Sometimes the pack is large enough that several pairs of males and females number in the pack. The Omega is the lowest member and for sometimes, obscure reasons, is seen as the weakest. The pack hunt together and play together often times traveling great distances. They mark their territory and defend it from other wolf packs, coyotes and other wild animals. Their individual howls are distinctive and when traveling are used to keep the pack together.  Habitat:  The number of wild wolves today is dwindling. Yet through efforts of wildlife biologists and the reintroduction program in the western United States their numbers are recovering. Wolves inhabit North America both in northern Canada and the United States. They are also found in Greenland, Europe, Alaska and Asia. Small pockets of wolves can be found in Eastern Canada, in Minnesota and as far south as New Mexico. In the far north, wolves form a vital part of the natural community. Wolves are master hunters and they kill sick or injured caribou, moose, elk or deer that would be a burden to the herd. In the wild, nature always provides a balance.

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