The Gray Wolf
ApperanceGray wolf also known as the timber wolf, are the largest member of the dog family (Canidae). They have high body from the ground and long legs. A body posture that helps them to move faster and enable them to catch their prey. They have a powerful jaw bite force with sharp teeth and claws that help them perform their role as carnivorous in an excellent way. According to the Wolf Sanctuary, wolf have approximately twice the crushing power to their counterpart of domestic dogs with equal size. Their bodies are covered with thick fur form the head to the tail and toes. Their color ranges from light grey to dark grey and black. They look to a certain scale identical to dogs like huskies, but typically have narrower chest and longer legs.
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HabitatToday gray wolves live in a diverse geographical range of landscape, such as, mountains, woodlands, forests, deserts, tundra, and grasslands. In the United States gray wolf can be found in a wide selection of states. For instance, Idaho, Wyoming, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Montana. One of the factors wolves use to determine their territory home spot is dependent on the abundance of preys at that location. They also, avoid the spots that has a high portion of human encounter.
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Life Style and Behavior
Body language is one of the main tools of communication between wolves. Through using it wolves can demonstrate different signs such as challenge by growling and turning lifting their ears to the back of their heads. This demonstrate aggressiveness and ready to fight stand. On the other hand, when a wolf tries to show that its submission to the dominant wolf of the pack then submissive wolf will crouch as a sign of it. Wolf have a common warning sign they use with other canines’ creatures which is barking. People are often misidentifying wolves with dogs, but one distinguished feature they have is howling. Which is typically used for long distance communication. It works as a warning threat for the intruding predators and a form of communication to pull the pack members all together. Wolves live in packs. Typically, the pack range from 4-9 members. It also can be very large where it can reach 30 members. Growing up in the wolf pack, younger wolves have the option when they reach 2 or 3 years to either stay in the pack or move out and form their own pack. Alpha is a term that is assigned to the dominant male or female in the pack.
Ecological role
As any other creature on this planet, wolves play several vital roles in the eco-system. A-Herbivore population control: wolves have the capability of killing large herbivore, which in result can offer a chance for less dominant herbivore animals to find enough food sources. Wolves help in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. For example, wolves can maintain the population of elk around the area. This is very important because the over population of elk can lead to several issues: A- Elks overpopulation can decrease the reproduction of grass and plants which eventually lead to a dry land. Maintaining the Elk’s population by wolves can returned the rebirth balance of the plants and grass, such as, aspen cotton wood and willow trees. Branches and woods of these trees are being used by the beaver to build dams that attract small creatures, such as frogs and birds. Plenty of different bird’s species started to move in, migratory birds and songbirds. They started to increase in number greatly. In addition, wolves kill and sometimes feed on coyotes therefore, giving a chance for other small carnivorous creatures to be able to hunt and find food sources. Without having wolves in our nature, the ecosystem will be unbalanced. Thus, leading to more severe consequences. It is important to understand the amazing role these creatures play in saving and maintaining our eco system.
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Sources:
https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Mammals/Gray-Wolf
https://animals.mom.com/physical-adaptation-gray-wolf-7283.html
https://www.sunnysports.com/blog/role-wolves-in-the-ecosystem/
https://earthjustice.org/blog/2015-july/how-wolves-saved-the-foxes-mice-and-rivers-of-yellowstone-national-park
https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Mammals/Gray-Wolf
https://animals.mom.com/physical-adaptation-gray-wolf-7283.html
https://www.sunnysports.com/blog/role-wolves-in-the-ecosystem/
https://earthjustice.org/blog/2015-july/how-wolves-saved-the-foxes-mice-and-rivers-of-yellowstone-national-park