What Kind of Animal Is a Wolf?

The wolf is the largest in the wild canine family and is thought to be the ancestor of all domestic dogs. They are highly intelligent creatures and can adapt to a wide variety of environments from the harsh cold of the Arctic to the intense heat of the desert. The average lifespan of a wolf in the wild is around 8 years.

  1. Social Structure

    • Wolves live in packs with a complex social structure. The pack can be as small as five or six wolves and as large as 20. Every member has a role to play such as a lookout, scent marker or fighter. The pack has leaders called the alpha male and the beta female. Usually, this is the only pair in the pack that will mate to produce offspring. When pups are born, the entire pack is responsible for their care. Wolves are meat eaters and will fight other animals when food is scarce and to protect the pack; otherwise they are not particularly aggressive and will keep to themselves. Communication with other pack members is done through highly specific body language and sound.

    Types of Wolves

    • The largest of the wolves is the gray wolf. Close in appearance to a German shepherd, this is the one that most people visualize when they think of a wolf. The gray wolf lives throughout the world in a variety of climates and is the most common of the wolf species. The other main species of wolf is the red wolf which is sometimes mistaken for a large fox due to the coloring. They are mainly found in North and South Carolina and have been on the endangered list since 1967. All other wolves around the world are subspecies of the red and gray wolf families.

    Wolves and People

    • Ancient people once regarded the wolf with great respect as they recognized their intelligence and organized pack arrangement. Harmony existed between humans and wolves until human population began to encroach on wolf territory. Conflict arose when wolves began killing cattle and pets, forcing the owners to retaliate by trapping and shooting the wolves in large numbers in attempts to drive them out. Wolves were also hunted merely for their skins and warm fur.

    Wolf Conservation

    • Hunting has been the largest threat to the survival of the wolf species. In the 1800s an anti-wolf campaign was responsible for over a million wolves being killed and this trend continued until 1942 when measures were finally taken to stop the slaughter. However, the damage was done, and the wolf became an endangered species. At the time of publication, many types of wolves are still on the endangered list, but are steadily increasing in numbers due to careful conservation practices.