HomePrimary Wolf Breeds
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Primary Wolf Breeds
Your Liver Tue Aug 09, 2011 11:47 pm
Grey Wolves
Gray wolves are slender, powerfully built animals with large, deeply descending ribcages and sloping backs. Their abdomens are pulled in, and their necks heavily muscled. Their limbs are long and robust, with comparatively small paws.The front paws have five toes each, while the back paws have four. The forelimbs are seemingly pressed into the chest, with the elbows pointed inward, and the feet outward. Females tend to have narrower muzzles and foreheads, thinner necks, slightly shorter legs and less massive shoulders than males. Wolves are very strong for their size, possessing sufficient strength to turn over a frozen moose carcass.
Adult wolves are 105–160 cm (41–63 in) in length and 80–85 cm (32–34 in) in shoulder height. The tail is ⅔ the length of the head and body, measuring 29–50 cm (11–20 in) in length. The ears are 90–110 millimeters (3.5–4.3 in) in height, and the hind feet are 220–250 mm.
Gray wolves have very dense and fluffy winter fur, with short underfur and long, coarse guard hairs.[29] Most of the underfur and some of the guard hairs are shed in the spring and grow back in the autumn period.[48] The longest hairs occur on the back, particularly on the front quarters and neck. Especially long hairs are found on the shoulders, and almost form a crest on the upper part of the neck. The hairs on the cheeks are elongated and form tufts. The ears are covered in short hairs which strongly project from the fur. Short, elastic and closely adjacent hairs are present on the limbs from the elbows down to the calcaneal tendons.[52]
The winter fur is highly resistant to cold; wolves in northern climates can rest comfortably in open areas at −40° by placing their muzzles between the rear legs and covering their faces with their tail. Wolf fur provides better insulation than dog fur, and, as with wolverines, it does not collect ice when warm breath is condensed against it.[48] In warm climates, the fur is coarser and scarcer than in northern wolves.[29]
Female wolves tend to have smoother furred limbs than males, and generally develop the smoothest overall coats as they age. Older wolves generally have more white hairs in the tip of the tail, along the nose and on the forehead. The winter fur is retained longest in lactating females, though with some hair loss around their nipples.[30] Hair length on the middle of the back is 60–70 mm. Hair length of the guard hairs on the shoulders generally does not exceed 90 mm, but can reach 110–130 mm.[53]
Coat colour ranges from almost pure white through various shades of blond, cream, and ochre to grays, browns, and blacks. Differences in coat colour between sexes are largely absent, though females may have redder tones. Fur colour does not seem to serve any camouflage purpose, with some scientists concluding that the blended colors have more to do with emphasizing certain gestures during interaction. Black coloured wolves (which occur through wolf-dog hybridisation) rarely occur in Eurasia, where interactions with domestic dogs has been reduced over the past thousand years due to the depletion of wild wolf populations. They are more common in North America; about half of the wolves in the reintroduced wolf population in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park are black. In southern Canada and Minnesota the black phase is more common than the white, though gray coloured wolves predominate.
Red Wolves
Red Wolves are only one of two species of wolves in the world. The other species is the larger Gray Wolf. In 1973 they were declared an endangered species and in 1980 the USFWS officially declared the Red Wolf extinct in the wild. However the USFWS captured 17 red wolves prior to 1980 and has used an extensive breading program in over 38 zoos and nature centers around the US to bring their numbers back to around 265 individuals as of August 2005. In 1987 the Red Wolf was reintroduced first into the wilds of North Carolina and it is estimated that there are over 100 Red Wolves in the wild now. Another 165 or so are still in the captive breeding programs. Read the USFWS pamphlet to your right for more detailed information about this reintroduction.
Red Wolf Facts:
In the early part of the 20th century extensive predator control program basically wiped out the entire red wolf population. Only two populations of red wolf were believe to exist by the late 1930s. One in the Ozarks/Quachita Mountain region of Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma and one in southeastern Texas and southern Louisiana. Today with over 265 animals in captivity and in the wild red wolves are starting to make a slow comeback.
Arctic Wolf
Able to tolerate years of sub-zero temperatures, up to five months of darkness a year, and weeks without food, the arctic wolf lives in one of the few places on earth where it is safe from the greatest threat of all - man. Arctic wolves inhabit some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world. In April, the air temperature rarely rises above -22° F. The ground is permanently frozen. The arctic wolf is one of the few mammals that can tolerate these conditions. Details of the animal's life through much of the year are virtually unknown.
Throughout the Fall and Winter, arctic wolves remain on the move. After mating in March, the pregnant female leaves the pack to find a den to give birth to her pups. She may dig a new one. However, if the ground is frozen, she will be forced to return to an old den in a cave or rock cleft. The pups are born deaf, blind, and helpless. They are totally dependent on their mother, and she in turn relies on her mate to bring her the food she needs. After a month, the pups are able to eat meat. From then on, the whole pack shares the job of feeding them with regurgitated meat from a kill. The pups may strike out on their own the following year.
The arctic wolf preys on lemmings and arctic hare, but its most substantial source of food is musk oxen and caribou. Because of the scarcity of grazing plants, animals must roam a large area in order to find enough food to survive.
They will kill virtually any animal they can catch, and eat every part of it, including skin, fur, and bones. The wolves have up to 800 square miles in which to search for their prey. When Winter temperatures plummet, the wolves may follow migrating caribou South.
The arctic wolves must hunt together in packs when seeking large prey. The caribou or musk oxen are too powerful for any one wolf to take on alone. By the time the pack approaches a herd of oxen out in the open, the chance of a surprise attack is long gone; the herd has already formed a defensive circle with the calves in the center. The wolves must then prowl around the herd forcing the oxen to shift their ground to face them. If the wolves are successful, the oxen will scatter. The wolves will then give chase, trying to isolate the young or weak. A musk ox will provide enough food to last the wolves several days.
Arctic Wolf on the Side of a Glacier The shoulder height of the arctic wolf varies from 25 to 31 inches. On average, they are about 3 feet tall from head to toe. Their body length may vary from 3 to 5 feet (nose to tail). Their colors may range from red, gray, white and black. The approximate weight of a full grown male is 175 pounds. In captivity, an arctic wolf can live to be over 17 years. However, the average lifespan in the wild is but 7 years.
Mexican Wolf
Mexican wolves are the smallest subspecies of North American gray wolves. They are also the most endangered. Commonly referred to as El lobo, the Mexican wolf is gray with light brown fur on its back. Its long legs and sleek body enable it to run fast.
Height - 26-32 inches at the shoulder
Length - 4.5-5.5 feet from nose to tip of tail
Weight - 60-80 lbs; Males are typically heavier and taller than the females
Lifespan - Up to 15 years in captivity
Once extirpated from the southwestern United States, 34 wolves returned to southeastern Arizona following a reintroduction program begun in March, 1998. There are only about 200 Mexican wolves in captivity. The goal of the reintroduction program is to restore at least 100 wolves to the wild by 2008.
Mexican wolves once ranged from central Mexico to southwestern Texas, southern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. Today, the Mexican wolf has been reintroduced to the Apache National Forest in southeastern Arizona and may move into the adjacent Gila National Forest in western New Mexico as the population expands.
Mexican wolves prefer to live in mountain forests, grasslands and shrublands, and are very social animals. They live in packs, which are complex social structures that include the breeding adult pair (the alpha male and female) and their offspring. A hierarchy of dominant and subordinate animals within the pack help it to work as a unit.
Eurasian Wolf
The Eurasian Wolf (Canis lupus lupus), also known as the, European, Common or Forest Wolf is a subspecies of grey wolf which has the largest range among wolf subspecies and is the most common in Europe and Asia, ranging through Mongolia, China, Russia, Scandinavia, Western Europe and the Himalayan Mountains. Compared to their North American cousins, Eurasian wolves tend to have longer, more highly placed ears, narrower heads, more slender loins and coarser, tawnier coloured fur. Compared to Indian wolves, Eurasian wolves are larger, and have longer, broader skulls. In Europe, wolves rarely form large packs like in North America, as their lives are more strongly influenced by human activities. Because of this, Eurasian wolves tend to be more adaptable than North American wolves in the face of human expansion.
In describing North American wolves, John Richardson used European wolves as a basis for comparison, summarising the differences between the two forms as so:
The European wolf's head is narrower, and tapers gradually to form the nose, which is produced on the same plane with the forehead. Its ears are higher and somewhat nearer to each other ; their length exceeds the distance between the auditory opening and the eye. Its loins are more slender, its legs longer, feet narrower, and its tail is more thinly clothed with fur. The shorter ears, broader forehead, and thicker muzzle of the American Wolf, with the bushiness of the hair behind the cheek, give it a physiognomy more like the social visage of an Esquimaux dog than the sneaking aspect of a European Wolf.
The size of Eurasian wolves is subject to geographic variation with animals in Russia and Scandinavia being larger and bulkier than those residing in Western Europe, having been compared by Theodore Roosevelt to the large wolves of north-western Montana and Washington. Adults from Russia measure 105–160 cm in length, 80–85 cm in shoulder height and weigh on average 32–50 kg (70.5-110 lbs), with a maximum weight of 69–80 kg (152-176 lbs). One of the largest on record was killed after World War II in the Kobelyakski Area of the Poltavskij Region in the Ukrainian SSR, and weighed 86 kilograms (190 lb). Larger weights of 92–96 kg (202.8-211.6 lbs) have been recorded in Ukraine, though the circumstances under which these latter animals were weighed are not known. Although similar in size to central Russian wolves, Swedish and Norwegian wolves tend to be more heavily built with deeper shoulders. One wolf killed in Romania was recorded to have weighed 72 kilograms (158 pounds). In Italian wolves, excepting the tail, body length ranges between 110–148 cm, while shoulder height is 50–70 cm. Males weigh between 25–35 kg (55-77 lbs) and rarely 45 kg (99 lbs). The now extinct British wolves are known to have reached similar sizes to Arctic wolves.
The fur is generally coarser than that of American wolves, with less soft wool intermixed with it, and the mane is much more pronounced. The summer fur is a mix of ocherous and rusty ocherous tones with light grey. The guard hairs are tipped with black, and are especially pronounced on the back, forming a dark stripe running down the spine. The flanks and the outer side of the legs are white. The muzzle is pale-ocherous grey, while the circumference of the lips and lower cheeks are white. The neck is ocherous with black-tipped fur on the upper side. The winter fur is generally brighter in colour, due to the more prominent underfur. Ocherous tones are less pronounced, giving way to smoky grey tones. The guard hairs of the shoulder measure 90 mm, but can reach 110–130 mm. Wolves in Southern Europe tend to be more richly coloured than their northern relatives. Black coloured wolves (which result from wolf-dog hybridisation) are rarer in Eurasia than in North America due to wide spread reduction in wolf numbers preventing wolves from interacting with dogs, though currently 20-25% of Italy's wolf population is composed of black animals. White forms are much rarer in Eurasia than in North America, and are typically mere cases of albinism.
Gray wolves are slender, powerfully built animals with large, deeply descending ribcages and sloping backs. Their abdomens are pulled in, and their necks heavily muscled. Their limbs are long and robust, with comparatively small paws.The front paws have five toes each, while the back paws have four. The forelimbs are seemingly pressed into the chest, with the elbows pointed inward, and the feet outward. Females tend to have narrower muzzles and foreheads, thinner necks, slightly shorter legs and less massive shoulders than males. Wolves are very strong for their size, possessing sufficient strength to turn over a frozen moose carcass.
Adult wolves are 105–160 cm (41–63 in) in length and 80–85 cm (32–34 in) in shoulder height. The tail is ⅔ the length of the head and body, measuring 29–50 cm (11–20 in) in length. The ears are 90–110 millimeters (3.5–4.3 in) in height, and the hind feet are 220–250 mm.
Gray wolves have very dense and fluffy winter fur, with short underfur and long, coarse guard hairs.[29] Most of the underfur and some of the guard hairs are shed in the spring and grow back in the autumn period.[48] The longest hairs occur on the back, particularly on the front quarters and neck. Especially long hairs are found on the shoulders, and almost form a crest on the upper part of the neck. The hairs on the cheeks are elongated and form tufts. The ears are covered in short hairs which strongly project from the fur. Short, elastic and closely adjacent hairs are present on the limbs from the elbows down to the calcaneal tendons.[52]
The winter fur is highly resistant to cold; wolves in northern climates can rest comfortably in open areas at −40° by placing their muzzles between the rear legs and covering their faces with their tail. Wolf fur provides better insulation than dog fur, and, as with wolverines, it does not collect ice when warm breath is condensed against it.[48] In warm climates, the fur is coarser and scarcer than in northern wolves.[29]
Female wolves tend to have smoother furred limbs than males, and generally develop the smoothest overall coats as they age. Older wolves generally have more white hairs in the tip of the tail, along the nose and on the forehead. The winter fur is retained longest in lactating females, though with some hair loss around their nipples.[30] Hair length on the middle of the back is 60–70 mm. Hair length of the guard hairs on the shoulders generally does not exceed 90 mm, but can reach 110–130 mm.[53]
Coat colour ranges from almost pure white through various shades of blond, cream, and ochre to grays, browns, and blacks. Differences in coat colour between sexes are largely absent, though females may have redder tones. Fur colour does not seem to serve any camouflage purpose, with some scientists concluding that the blended colors have more to do with emphasizing certain gestures during interaction. Black coloured wolves (which occur through wolf-dog hybridisation) rarely occur in Eurasia, where interactions with domestic dogs has been reduced over the past thousand years due to the depletion of wild wolf populations. They are more common in North America; about half of the wolves in the reintroduced wolf population in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park are black. In southern Canada and Minnesota the black phase is more common than the white, though gray coloured wolves predominate.
Red Wolves
Red Wolves are only one of two species of wolves in the world. The other species is the larger Gray Wolf. In 1973 they were declared an endangered species and in 1980 the USFWS officially declared the Red Wolf extinct in the wild. However the USFWS captured 17 red wolves prior to 1980 and has used an extensive breading program in over 38 zoos and nature centers around the US to bring their numbers back to around 265 individuals as of August 2005. In 1987 the Red Wolf was reintroduced first into the wilds of North Carolina and it is estimated that there are over 100 Red Wolves in the wild now. Another 165 or so are still in the captive breeding programs. Read the USFWS pamphlet to your right for more detailed information about this reintroduction.
Red Wolf Facts:
- -An adult red wolf weighs between 50-80 pounds and is about 4 feet long from the tip of its tail to its nose.
- - Red Wolves live in packs of 5 to 8 individuals. The packs consist of an adult breeding pair and their young of different ages.
- -They are called red wolves because of the reddish color of fur mostly behind their ears and along their legs and neck.
In the early part of the 20th century extensive predator control program basically wiped out the entire red wolf population. Only two populations of red wolf were believe to exist by the late 1930s. One in the Ozarks/Quachita Mountain region of Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma and one in southeastern Texas and southern Louisiana. Today with over 265 animals in captivity and in the wild red wolves are starting to make a slow comeback.
Arctic Wolf
Able to tolerate years of sub-zero temperatures, up to five months of darkness a year, and weeks without food, the arctic wolf lives in one of the few places on earth where it is safe from the greatest threat of all - man. Arctic wolves inhabit some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world. In April, the air temperature rarely rises above -22° F. The ground is permanently frozen. The arctic wolf is one of the few mammals that can tolerate these conditions. Details of the animal's life through much of the year are virtually unknown.
Throughout the Fall and Winter, arctic wolves remain on the move. After mating in March, the pregnant female leaves the pack to find a den to give birth to her pups. She may dig a new one. However, if the ground is frozen, she will be forced to return to an old den in a cave or rock cleft. The pups are born deaf, blind, and helpless. They are totally dependent on their mother, and she in turn relies on her mate to bring her the food she needs. After a month, the pups are able to eat meat. From then on, the whole pack shares the job of feeding them with regurgitated meat from a kill. The pups may strike out on their own the following year.
The arctic wolf preys on lemmings and arctic hare, but its most substantial source of food is musk oxen and caribou. Because of the scarcity of grazing plants, animals must roam a large area in order to find enough food to survive.
They will kill virtually any animal they can catch, and eat every part of it, including skin, fur, and bones. The wolves have up to 800 square miles in which to search for their prey. When Winter temperatures plummet, the wolves may follow migrating caribou South.
The arctic wolves must hunt together in packs when seeking large prey. The caribou or musk oxen are too powerful for any one wolf to take on alone. By the time the pack approaches a herd of oxen out in the open, the chance of a surprise attack is long gone; the herd has already formed a defensive circle with the calves in the center. The wolves must then prowl around the herd forcing the oxen to shift their ground to face them. If the wolves are successful, the oxen will scatter. The wolves will then give chase, trying to isolate the young or weak. A musk ox will provide enough food to last the wolves several days.
Arctic Wolf on the Side of a Glacier The shoulder height of the arctic wolf varies from 25 to 31 inches. On average, they are about 3 feet tall from head to toe. Their body length may vary from 3 to 5 feet (nose to tail). Their colors may range from red, gray, white and black. The approximate weight of a full grown male is 175 pounds. In captivity, an arctic wolf can live to be over 17 years. However, the average lifespan in the wild is but 7 years.
Mexican Wolf
Mexican wolves are the smallest subspecies of North American gray wolves. They are also the most endangered. Commonly referred to as El lobo, the Mexican wolf is gray with light brown fur on its back. Its long legs and sleek body enable it to run fast.
Height - 26-32 inches at the shoulder
Length - 4.5-5.5 feet from nose to tip of tail
Weight - 60-80 lbs; Males are typically heavier and taller than the females
Lifespan - Up to 15 years in captivity
Once extirpated from the southwestern United States, 34 wolves returned to southeastern Arizona following a reintroduction program begun in March, 1998. There are only about 200 Mexican wolves in captivity. The goal of the reintroduction program is to restore at least 100 wolves to the wild by 2008.
Mexican wolves once ranged from central Mexico to southwestern Texas, southern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. Today, the Mexican wolf has been reintroduced to the Apache National Forest in southeastern Arizona and may move into the adjacent Gila National Forest in western New Mexico as the population expands.
Mexican wolves prefer to live in mountain forests, grasslands and shrublands, and are very social animals. They live in packs, which are complex social structures that include the breeding adult pair (the alpha male and female) and their offspring. A hierarchy of dominant and subordinate animals within the pack help it to work as a unit.
Eurasian Wolf
The Eurasian Wolf (Canis lupus lupus), also known as the, European, Common or Forest Wolf is a subspecies of grey wolf which has the largest range among wolf subspecies and is the most common in Europe and Asia, ranging through Mongolia, China, Russia, Scandinavia, Western Europe and the Himalayan Mountains. Compared to their North American cousins, Eurasian wolves tend to have longer, more highly placed ears, narrower heads, more slender loins and coarser, tawnier coloured fur. Compared to Indian wolves, Eurasian wolves are larger, and have longer, broader skulls. In Europe, wolves rarely form large packs like in North America, as their lives are more strongly influenced by human activities. Because of this, Eurasian wolves tend to be more adaptable than North American wolves in the face of human expansion.
In describing North American wolves, John Richardson used European wolves as a basis for comparison, summarising the differences between the two forms as so:
The European wolf's head is narrower, and tapers gradually to form the nose, which is produced on the same plane with the forehead. Its ears are higher and somewhat nearer to each other ; their length exceeds the distance between the auditory opening and the eye. Its loins are more slender, its legs longer, feet narrower, and its tail is more thinly clothed with fur. The shorter ears, broader forehead, and thicker muzzle of the American Wolf, with the bushiness of the hair behind the cheek, give it a physiognomy more like the social visage of an Esquimaux dog than the sneaking aspect of a European Wolf.
The size of Eurasian wolves is subject to geographic variation with animals in Russia and Scandinavia being larger and bulkier than those residing in Western Europe, having been compared by Theodore Roosevelt to the large wolves of north-western Montana and Washington. Adults from Russia measure 105–160 cm in length, 80–85 cm in shoulder height and weigh on average 32–50 kg (70.5-110 lbs), with a maximum weight of 69–80 kg (152-176 lbs). One of the largest on record was killed after World War II in the Kobelyakski Area of the Poltavskij Region in the Ukrainian SSR, and weighed 86 kilograms (190 lb). Larger weights of 92–96 kg (202.8-211.6 lbs) have been recorded in Ukraine, though the circumstances under which these latter animals were weighed are not known. Although similar in size to central Russian wolves, Swedish and Norwegian wolves tend to be more heavily built with deeper shoulders. One wolf killed in Romania was recorded to have weighed 72 kilograms (158 pounds). In Italian wolves, excepting the tail, body length ranges between 110–148 cm, while shoulder height is 50–70 cm. Males weigh between 25–35 kg (55-77 lbs) and rarely 45 kg (99 lbs). The now extinct British wolves are known to have reached similar sizes to Arctic wolves.
The fur is generally coarser than that of American wolves, with less soft wool intermixed with it, and the mane is much more pronounced. The summer fur is a mix of ocherous and rusty ocherous tones with light grey. The guard hairs are tipped with black, and are especially pronounced on the back, forming a dark stripe running down the spine. The flanks and the outer side of the legs are white. The muzzle is pale-ocherous grey, while the circumference of the lips and lower cheeks are white. The neck is ocherous with black-tipped fur on the upper side. The winter fur is generally brighter in colour, due to the more prominent underfur. Ocherous tones are less pronounced, giving way to smoky grey tones. The guard hairs of the shoulder measure 90 mm, but can reach 110–130 mm. Wolves in Southern Europe tend to be more richly coloured than their northern relatives. Black coloured wolves (which result from wolf-dog hybridisation) are rarer in Eurasia than in North America due to wide spread reduction in wolf numbers preventing wolves from interacting with dogs, though currently 20-25% of Italy's wolf population is composed of black animals. White forms are much rarer in Eurasia than in North America, and are typically mere cases of albinism.
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