Evolution Of A Wolf Essay

Chrysocyon brachyurus, more commonly known as the Maned Wolf, is one of the more peculiar canids residing in South America. While this animal may be classified as a wolf, it has several differences in behavior and habitat than its North American and European counterparts Amusingly dubbed the “fox on stilts” the maned wolf is the largest canid of South America with a more slender body plan giving the animal a slender almost gangly appearance. The species is known to dwell in savannah type habitats mostly in isolation until their breeding season sets in. The animals are omnivorous sticking to small mammals and vegetation they pose little to know throat to humans, however these animals are still subject to reduced mortatlity rates, putting them in a “near threatened” category. Unfortunately, there is only a limited amount of research available regarding the maned wolf, leaving a few holes to be filled in their profile.

The behavior of wolves can vary greatly, different seasons can mean different behavior patterns. When the wolf of one pack enters the territory of another wolf pack the behaviors can be very aggressive. Wolves live in family units called packs, they are very social animals and usually do not do well individually. The pack is usually made up of the alpha or the leader of the pack. The alpha is usually both a male and female in the group that are a breeding pair. The pack is usually comprised of the offspring of the alphas pair from the several years of pups. The leaders of the pack are the bosses and determine when the pack will hunt, sleep, travel, or even play. The alphas almost always east first. (Wolf Ecology and Behavior,

The gray wolf is one of the world’s most well known and well researched animals with more documentation on them than any other wildlife species. It is a canid whose main habitats are in the wilderness of remote areas in North America, Eurasia and North Africa. It is the largest member of the wolf family, usually weighing between 70 and 120 lbs, and closely resembles in general appearance and proportions to a modern day breed of dog known as the German Sheppard, although they typically have a larger head, narrower chest, longer legs, straighter tails and bigger paws. The narrow chest of the gray wolf allows for swift and efficient movement through the common elements of their environment such as snow, brush and other conditions. Their larger heads indicate their higher level of intelligence and their large paws, webbed with fur aid in movement across mud and snow. The colour of a gray wolf’s fur lives up to its name and is predominantly a mottled gray although the gray wolf can also have fur that is nearly pure white, mixes of red, brown, or black. Being very social animals, gray wolves do mostly everything in packs of 2 – 15 animals; living, traveling and hunting. They can hunt and feed off smaller game, yet with their large pack size, they can work collectively to bring down large game such as deer, moose or bison. There are 37 recognized subspecies of the gray wolf in total ranging across six continents with familiar names that one

Long before the settlers started to make the United States their home, “American Indians lived long beside the Gray Wolf before settlers started to come here.” (Rowe, Mark) The wolf is native to the North American continent and has been inhabiting its land for centuries. It is a canid species, or member of the canine family and is a cunning, smart, fast, and sly animal. Gray wolves range in color from black, brown, gray, and white and also look like a grown German Shepherd. They are well known for traveling in family sizes from 7-9 wolves, led by the alpha male and have a mate. They are a fierce animal that has been researched extensively because of their unique qualities and that they are near extinction.

Wolves live, travel and hunt in packs of 7 to 8 wolves normally. wolves may howl to assemble their pack, to claim territory, to warn intruders away from a home site or kill, or to identify other wolves

In North America as far back as the 19th century, 200,000 to 500,000 wolves lived among the Native American people. Wolves played a major part in nearly all legends and mythology of the Native American tribes. Since that time, many things have changed; today, the Native American people tell these stories, many of which involve wolves, in art and songs. They speak how the wolf saved the people from the Great Flood, and how they provided fur to the Native American people to keep warm.

As the population is growing more crops and cattle for farms are expanding and this has started to cause the Gray Wolves to get in the endangered list in 1976. Within those farms, Gray wolves would invade the livestock and gather food from the farms. When the farmers witness their livestock being eaten and taken away from the wolves they would kill and shoot the animals to defend their farm. Since there are so many farms the food stock has become limited for them so they have to find whatever food they can. Besides limited food disease is also a huge problem within their community, diseases such as canine distemper which is caused by unvaccinated dogs and kills young pups to older adults. Gray wolves are also a dangerous predator to themselves,

The adaptations of a Arctic Wolf are small ears to reduce their surface area to volume ratio and compared to other the grey wolf and other subspecies arctic wolves have proportionally smaller ears. This means that there is less surface area to lose heat from compared to the larger ears of their more southern wolves. They also have thick camouflaged seasonal fur and because the coat of the arctic wolf is always thick and highly insulating they can stay warm during the coldest times of the year and there are inner and outer layers to the fur

A gray wolf’s natural habitat is expansive. As long as there are plentiful food supplies of large herbivores like elk and deer, almost all regions can support this majestic and highly intelligent predator.

The Gray Wolf is the biggest canine in the Taiga. To adapt the Gray Wolf has very

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 color. They are often a grizzled gray-brown like some German shepherd dogs. This color 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 under-fur, 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.

Wolves are amazing creatures that stack up to be more than your average canine. Wolves can stake claim to territories recorded to be over 800 miles. Average wolf packs usually consist of 8-10 wolves, but one Denali pack recorded 27 members plus 3 pups. They have the ability to hunt caribou, moose, Dall sheep, beaver, and ground squirrel. They use howling and scent marking to scare of rival packs. They also show us their rank in the pack by the position in which they carry their tale. They accomplish all this with a brain twice the size of a domestic dog, and extremely developed social skills. Not only are these wolves the most famous in the world, one group is the world’s oldest known family lineage of any nonhuman social vertebrate in the wild.

What the wolves eat on a daily bases or in a pack. 1. Wolves are meat eaters, so they can eat up to big game such as mammals, moose, elk, deer etc. Or even eating earthworms to berries and grasshoppers. And in the summer when herds are migrating they eat mice, birds and even fish. Where and how wolves travel as a pack or single. 2.The travel of a pack normally is called on from the alpha male and female. But that only happens if there is problems in their old habitat to travel to a new spot in the area. Traveling as a single wolf. 2.Once a mature wolf comes of age they may leave their birth family to find their own territory or an existing pack. Wolves can roam up 40 to 70 miles or sometimes even 100 miles. It depends on the gender of the wolf or available habitat. Traveling in a pack is a very important for a pack. If there was no traveling there would be less packs in the U.S. to

After years of selective breeding and taming, the hunters finally came across some wolves that were able to listen to commands and do what they were ordered to do. These wolves did not look like the first ones with which humans came into contact. Their size, coloring, senses and even the length of their coat or swimming ability reflected the environment in which they lived. These environments could have ranged from anything since hunters do not stay in one place for very long. These wolves probably did not reflect their gray ancestors much anymore. The color of their coat could have become brown, black, or even yellow depending on where they were taken. Their size could have been affected, too, depending on how the hunters had used them- they could have shrunken to the size

The Gray Wolf was known to have walked the Earth 100-120 million years ago. They use their howl to communicate. The average life span is 6-8 years old. They can adapted to harsh climates. The gray Wolf tends to live in the northern hemisphere, because when moved south they were killed to extinction. They topically eat larger mammals that have hooves and also eat fruit. Their packs have about 10-12 wolves, but can hold up to 36 members. The Gray Wolf travels up to 12 miles a day. You can tell who the alpha male is by body language such as, crouching, chin touching, and rolling over to show their stomach. The Gray Wolf is on extension list. Their job is to keep certain population in check, and also help other plants not die out.