Wolf habits in nature. Interesting fact about wolves. The wolf and the she-wolf. Useful information about the wolf

Wolf (lat.Canis lupus) - predatory mammal from the Canidae family. Along with coyotes (Cаnis latrаns) and common jackals (Cаnis аureus), as well as some other species and subspecies, gray or common wolves are included in the genus Wolves (Cаnis).

Description of the gray wolf

According to the results of genetic research and gene drift research, wolves are the direct ancestors of domestic dogs, which are usually considered a subspecies of wolf. Currently, Cаnis lupus are the largest modern members of their family.

Appearance

The size and body weight of a wolf differ in pronounced geographical variability and directly depend on climatic conditions, some external factors. The average height of an animal at the withers varies from 66 to 86 cm, with a body length in the range of 105-160 cm and a mass of 32-62 kg. An arriving or one-year-old wolf weighs no more than 20-30 kg, and the mass of two- and three-year-old wolves is no more than 35-45 kg. The wolf becomes mature in age three yearswhen the minimum body weight reaches 50-55 kg.

Outwardly, wolves are similar to large, sharp-eared dogs with high and strong limbs, large and more elongated paws. For the two middle fingers of such a predator, a noticeable forward movement is characteristic, due to which the track acquires a very peculiar relief. Wolves have a broad-forehead head with a relatively wide and rather elongated, massive muzzle, which is distinguished by increased expressiveness, which makes it possible to distinguish more than a dozen expressions of predator's facial expressions. The skull is high, massive and large, with a wide nasal opening widening at the bottom.

It is interesting! Significant differences between a wolf's track and a dog's track are represented by a large backward lag of the lateral fingers, as well as keeping the paw “in a ball” and a straighter track left by the animal.

The tail is "log-shaped", thick, always drooping down. The structure of the teeth is an important characteristic of a wild predator. The upper jaw of the wolf is equipped with six incisors, a pair of canines, eight premolars and four molars, and on the lower jaw there are a couple of more molars. With the help of fangs, the predator not only holds well, but also drags the prey, therefore the loss of the dentition becomes the cause of hunger and rather painful death of the wolf.

Two-layer wolf fur will differ in sufficient length and density... Coarse guard hairs are water and dirt repellent, and the undercoat is essential for keeping warm. Different subspecies differ in color corresponding environment... Forest predators have a grayish-brown color, tundra ones have a light, almost white, and desert individuals are gray-reddish. The cubs have a uniform dark color, which becomes lighter as the animal grows older. Within the same population, the color of the coat of different individuals can also have noticeable differences.

Character and lifestyle

Wolves carry out their predominant activity at night, accompanying their presence with a loud and prolonged howl, which serves as a means of communication even at very significant distances. In the process of hunting for prey, the wolf, as a rule, does not make unnecessary sounds and tries to move as silently as possible.

It is interesting! The habitats of the gray wolf are very diverse, which is due to the confinement of such a predatory mammal to almost any landscape .

The predatory mammal has a very well developed hearing... Sight and sense of smell are somewhat worse in such an animal. Due to the well-developed higher nervous activity, strength, speed and agility, the wolf's chances of survival are very high. The predator is able to develop a running speed of up to 60 km / h and cover a distance of 75-80 km in one night.

How many wolves live

The general indicators of the life expectancy of a gray wolf in natural conditions in most cases depend on the activities of people. The average life span of such a predator in nature is fifteen years or a little more.

Habitat, habitats

Wolves are found in most parts of Europe and Asia, as well as in North America, where they have chosen the taiga, coniferous forest zones, ice tundra and even deserts. At present, the northern border of habitat is represented by the coast of the Arctic Ocean, and the southern one is represented by Asia.

As a result of vigorous human activity, the number of places of distribution of the predator has significantly decreased over the past few centuries. People often exterminate packs of wolves and drive them out of their habitable places, so this predatory mammal no longer inhabits Japan, the British Isles, France and Holland, Belgium and Denmark, as well as Switzerland.

It is interesting! The gray wolf belongs to territorial animals, occupying from 50 km 2 to 1.5 thousand km 2, and the area of \u200b\u200bthe family territory directly depends on the landscape features in the predator's habitat.

The wolf distribution zone is determined by a sufficient amount of prey, regardless of the season. The predator tries to avoid snowy places and continuous forest with the onset of winter. The largest number of individuals is observed on the territory of the tundra and forest-tundra, forest-steppe and alpine zones, as well as steppes. In some cases, a wild predator settles in close proximity to human habitation, and taiga zones are currently characterized by the spread of wolves following the felling of taiga, which is quite actively carried out by people.

Diet of the gray wolf

Wolves feed almost exclusively on food of animal origin, but on the territory of the southern regions wild fruits and berries are often eaten by predators. The main diet is represented by domestic and wild ungulates, hares and small rodents, as well as birds and carrion. Tundra wolves give preference to calves and females, geese, lemmings, etc. Rams and tarbagans, as well as hares, often become prey for predators inhabiting mountainous areas. They can also become food for the wolf.

Where does the gray wolf not live? It can be found in Europe and Asia, in North America and on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. He can live both in the taiga and coniferous forests (as everyone knows), and in the icy tundra and in the deserts. In Hindustan, the wolf lives up to about 16 ′ north latitude. The lifestyle of many subspecies is different, in addition, they differ in size and color.

APPEARANCE, PHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS, FEATURES

The wolf is the largest animal in its family: its body is 160 cm long (with a tail); at the withers, the height reaches 90 cm; weighs about 60 kg.

The body of the gray wolf is distinguished by its strength, muscularity, and broad chest. Legs - high, with tightly closed toes. The head is forehead and at the same time graceful. The ears are not large. Dark stripes on the head are picturesquely combined with almost pure white cheeks and light spots above the eyes. The tail is not very long, hanging almost straight. Long dense fur reaches 8 cm. The undercoat is a hard, long black guard hair at the ends, repelling water, ensuring its waterproofness. The common wolf has completely different coloration, which varies depending on the area. There are even white individuals found in the Arctic. Other color options are various variations of white with brown, gray, cinnamon, black, sometimes completely black. North American wolves boast generally three different color schemes. The first is a mixture of gray, black and a shade of cinnamon, the top is brown. The second is a mixture of black and dark brown. The third is gray and brown.

GRAY WOLF LIFESTYLE

Habitat

The wolf lives in a wide variety of landscapes, but prefers steppes, semi-deserts, tundra, forest-steppe, avoiding dense forests. In the mountains, it is distributed from the foot to the area of \u200b\u200balpine meadows, adhering to open, weakly rugged areas. Can live near human habitation. In the taiga zone, it spread after a person, as the taiga was cut down.

The wolf is a fairly territorial creature. Breeding pairs, and often flocks, live permanently in certain areas, the boundaries of which are indicated by odorous marks. The diameter of the area occupied by the flock in winter is usually 30-60 kilometers. In spring and summer, when the flock disintegrates, the territory occupied by it is divided into several fragments. The best of them captures and holds the main pair, the rest of the wolves switch to a semi-vagrant lifestyle. In the open steppes and tundra, wolves often wander after moving herds of livestock or domestic deer.

Sociality, habits, other features of life

Wolves live in packs - family groups of 3 to 40 animals. At the head of the pack are the leader, the strongest and smartest of the males of the pack, and his girlfriend. Single and young wolves unite around them. The leader enjoys unquestionable authority in the pack. Those wolves who do not like the power of the leader are expelled from the pack, or leave themselves in the hope of creating their own pack. Each flock has its own territory, which the animals carefully guard from intruders.

The famous wolf howl heard far away is one way to signal that the area is occupied.

Food, ways of getting food

The main prey of the wolf is large ungulates. These can be moose, reindeer or other deer, roe deer, wild boars. Wolves also hunt smaller mammals: hares, ground squirrels, other rodents, and birds. In times of famine, this formidable predator will not disdain such "undignified" food as insects or carrion. IN winter time wolves hunt moose, deer or a flock of roe deer. Wolves have different hunting techniques: they starve their prey, attack from an ambush, replace each other in exhausting pursuit, try to isolate a weak or sick animal from the herd and attack. However, only one in ten wolf hunts are successful. The leader and his female are fed first, choosing the best pieces of carcass.

Reproduction, growth, life expectancy

During mating season in the flock there are clashes and serious fights, sometimes fatal. After the formation of a pair, the "young" ones are removed from the flock. Pregnancy lasts about two months, then the she-wolf gives birth to three to ten blind wolf cubs. The whole flock helps to feed the young offspring, bringing selected pieces of meat to the den where the she-wolf and the babies are located.

Lairs are arranged for breeding; usually they are natural shelters - crevices in rocks, bushes and the like. Sometimes wolves occupy burrows of badgers, marmots, arctic foxes and other animals, less often they dig them on their own. Most of all, the female is tied to the den during the rearing of the offspring, the male does not use it. Young growth is hatched in sheltered places: in a forest belt - mainly in dense bushes, on manes among swamps; in the steppes - along ravines overgrown with bushes, gullies and dry reed beds near lakes; in the tundra - on the hills. It is characteristic that wolves never hunt near their dwelling, but at a distance of 7-10 km and further. After the cubs grow up, the animals stop using their permanent den, and settle down to rest in various, but reliable places. Small wolf cubs of brownish color, very similar to ordinary puppies of a domestic dog.

INTERESTING FACTS!

Did you know that:

A wolf pack can consist of two or three wolves, and can contain dozens of individuals.

A hungry wolf is able to consume about 10 kg of meat in one sitting.

All newborns have blue eyes, and at the age of 8 months the eyes of these wonderful predators turn yellow.

On this moment there are countless images of wolves in the world. However, the oldest were found in Europe. Their age is 20,000 years.

With wonderful weather conditions the wolf is able to hear at a distance of up to 9 kilometers in woodland and up to 16 kilometers on the plains

GRAY WOLF AND MAN

Harm or benefit?

For humans, the wolf has always been enemy number one: the beast attacked livestock, posed a danger to people, so the wolf was exterminated everywhere. Now wolves are not as numerous as they once were in the past. Meanwhile, the wolf, being a large predator, plays an important role in the ecological balance: it regulates the number of large ungulates, hunts mainly sick and weak animals in the herd, thereby contributing to the survival of the fittest. Do not forget about this and curse in vain the "evil" and "predatory" wolf - there are no "unnecessary" and "useless" animals in nature.

AREA OF DISTRIBUTION, NUMBER, PROTECTION

In historical time, among land mammals, the area of \u200b\u200bthe wolf occupied the second place in area after the area of \u200b\u200bman, covering most Northern Hemisphere; is now greatly reduced. In Europe, the wolf has survived in Spain, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Scandinavia, the Balkans, and the Baltic states. In Asia, it inhabits Korea, partly China and the Indian subcontinent, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, the north of the Arabian Peninsula; extinct in Japan (subspecies Canis lupus hodophilax). In North America, it is found from Alaska to Mexico. In Russia, it is absent only on some islands: (Sakhalin, Kuriles).

RELATED SPECIES OF THE GRAY WOLF (Canis lupus)

The gray wolf has a relative living in eastern North America, the Red Wolf (Canis lupus rufus). It is somewhat smaller and really red in color. Unfortunately, now this species is on the verge of complete extinction due to immoderate persecution by humans and is listed in the Red Book.

Many people experience a genuine fear of these dangerous predators. This is largely due to the stories told by the hunters. They often characterize wolves as intelligent and even cunning animals. However, not everyone knows that a wolf in nature very rarely attacks a person. These fierce predators prefer to stay away from people, they are used to living their own lives, the main meaning of which is hunting.

Wolves: types of wolves

It should be noted that the genus of wolves on Earth is one of the few in number. There are only seven types of it:

• Canis lupus (wolf);
• Canis aureus (common jackal);
• Canis latrans (coyote);
• Canis rufus (red wolf);
• Canis adustus (striped jackal);
• Canis mesomelas (black-backed jackal);
• Canis simensis (Ethiopian jackal).

The wolf family includes arctic foxes, foxes, a maned wolf, and a raccoon dog.

Habitat

Scientists associate the origin of the wolf with carnivorous predators that lived on our planet a hundred million years ago, and about twenty million years ago, dogs originated from wolves. how separate species Canis lupus formed in Eurasia a million years ago, and at the end of the Pleistocene it had already become the most widespread predator.

In our time, the habitat of wolves is recorded in Europe, North America, Asia. They inhabit open and semi-open areas. In the north, the border of the predator's distribution is the coast of the Arctic Ocean. In Hindustan (in southern Asia) the wolf lives up to 16 degrees north latitude. Over the past two and a half centuries, the number of these formidable predators has significantly decreased. Protecting domestic animals, man exterminates them and drives them out of populated areas.

Already today in Japan, the British Isles, Holland, France, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, in Central Europe wolves are completely destroyed. The species of wolves in Europe continue to disappear rapidly over the past decades.

The wolf is still quite common in the steppes and mountainous regions of Kazakhstan, in the tundra and forest-tundra. The characteristic of wolves, which is given in many special editions, suggests that the wolf is quite changeable in its range - it has many subspecies, differs in size, color, lifestyle in natural conditions.

Zoologists distinguish between several dozen subspecies of the wolf. The largest individuals live in the tundra, the smallest in the southern regions. The mass of an adult animal can range from 18 to 80 kg, their body length can reach 160 cm, the length of the tail is about sixty centimeters.

Wolf color

It largely depends on the habitat. The characteristic of the wolf living in the Arctic suggests that white individuals are often found there. In addition, in other regions there are other colors - black and white wolf, gray and white, cinnamon, brown, sometimes completely black fur.

Predators native to North America have three color phases. The first is a mixture of gray, black and shades of cinnamon and brown. The second is black (a mixture of dark brown and black). The third phase is gray with brown.

Coat

These wild animals have an excellent fur coat. The wolf has thick fur (up to eight centimeters long). It has a thick undercoat. The outer layer is formed by long, hard, black-tipped guard hairs that repel water, and the undercoat does not get wet at all.

Wolf teeth

Wolves have the most powerful weapons. Wolf species, regardless of their habitat, have 42 strong and sharp teeth. In front are 4 curved five-centimeter canines - two on the bottom and two on the top. The predator easily bites them through the densest skin of its prey. And with carnivorous (molar) teeth, an adult wolf is able to gnaw even the thigh bone of an elk.

Limbs

Canine animals, including wolves, are finger-walking. In other words, they walk using their fingers. Only when the predator lies down does he touch the ground with his heels. The forelimbs of the wolf are very powerful, due to this the load is evenly distributed and the animal does not fall into loose snow.

Each front paw of a wolf has five toes, but only four work. The paws have well-developed bare crumbs, and the toes are collected in a dense and oval ball. They are completed by strong and slightly dull claws due to contact with the ground. The wolf uses them when digging the ground.

Wolves move by jogging, skipping or galloping. While walking, their speed is about six and a half kilometers per hour. They jog at speeds up to sixteen kilometers per hour. For a very long time, the wolf can run almost without stopping. There are cases when these dangerous predators covered a distance of up to one hundred kilometers in one night.

Smell and hearing

The characteristic of the wolf suggests that it is not ears or eyes that are hunting, but the nose is the first to help the wolf find prey. They catch the smell of even a very small animal, which is up to two kilometers away, down the wind. A keen sense of smell allows you to follow the trail of your victim.

True, predators are not deprived of fine hearing. When they hear the noise, they begin to wiggle their ears and accurately determine where the sound is coming from, often located several kilometers away.

Wolf Pack

The family of wolves, in some cases, has up to fifteen individuals, but more often it has eight animals. The flock is family groupconsisting of animals of different ages. Usually, it includes parents, newcomers (this year's brood) and peyarkas (animals that have not reached puberty). Sometimes it also includes adult animals that do not take part in reproduction.

In years rich in food, up to 30 or more wolves can gather in packs. The offspring remain in the family for 10-14 months, and then leave. Thus, a lone wolf appears. He goes in search of free territory, which he immediately marks, claiming his rights to it. As a rule, such an animal soon finds its mate and a new flock appears. Although there are cases when a lone wolf lives for a rather long time outside the pack.

The wolf family is a self-regulating mechanism. In cases where it is rather low, then its size is small, the separation of growing offspring occurs much faster. When environmental conditions are more favorable, the population density increases, therefore, the size of the flock increases, however, up to a certain limit. As a rule, its growth occurs due to non-secret lone wolves, which are assigned a subordinate position.

The pack is led by a pair of predators - a male wolf and his girlfriend, whom, by the way, he chooses for life. Thus, the pack has a nucleus of wolves with a high social status and their subordinates. The leaders of the pack are distinguished by a very strong character, which allows them to maintain order in the family, to prevent clashes and fights, especially between young wolves.

Family hunting area

The flock survives due to the size of its hunting grounds, so the predators defend them fiercely. The border of such territories can be from fifty to one and a half thousand square kilometers. Wolves mark their territory, and you will not envy a stranger who dares to violate its borders.

Sign language

As a rule, wolves express their feelings with body movements and facial expressions. The wolf tongue helps to rally the flock and act in an organized way. For example, when the tail of an animal is raised high, and its tip is slightly bent, this means that the predator is confident in himself. A friendly wolf keeps the tail down, but the tip is slightly raised up. A predator with its tail between its legs is either afraid of something, or thus communicates sympathy.

In addition, the position of the tail can tell about the status of the animal in the flock. The leader always raises him high, and his subordinates keep the tail down. Wagging its tail, the formidable predator invites its congeners to play.

Welcome ceremony

Pack members show respect and loyalty to their leader in a welcoming ceremony. Ears tucked in, crawling, with tightly smoothed hair, they cautiously approach the leader and his companion, lick them and carefully bite their muzzles.

Wolf diet

The basis of the diet of wolves are large ungulates - noble animals and saigas, elks, goats and rams. In the absence of such food, the wolf hunts for rodents, rabbits, and in rare cases eats carrion. In regions where there are no ungulates, wolves are not found or live in very small numbers. Predators are attracted by large concentrations of livestock. In the north, in areas with developed sheep and reindeer husbandry, the presence of wolves is common.

Wolves are quite widespread on the territory of Russia. The types of wolves that inhabit our country are well known. There are only six of them:

• forest Central Russian wolf;
• grey;
• tundra;
• forest Siberian;
• caucasian;
• mongolian.

Gray wolf

This representative of the wolf is considered the most common in the world. The description of the gray wolf today can be found in all reference books of zoologists. It stands out for its impressive size. The appearance of this predator is not devoid of nobility. Apparently, therefore, he more than once became the hero of writers writing about animals.

The gray wolf can be found in Europe, America and Asia. A knocked down, strong body with a wide massive chest, high muscular legs leave no doubt that this is a real predator in front of you. This wolf has a forehead, but at the same time graceful head with small ears and decorated with dark stripes that are located around almost white cheeks and very light spots above the eyes. The tail is not long, it is almost straight.

The fur is long (up to eight centimeters) and thick, with undercoat. The coat of animals living in the middle and southern regions is rough. Wolves from the northern regions have a soft and fluffy coat.

Russian wolf

This is a special subspecies of the gray wolf that lives in the north of Russia. The Russian wolf is one of the five subspecies that live on the territory of our country. Canis lupus communis (Russian wolf) - as this animal is called by Western biologists. On average, the male weighs from 40 to 80 kilograms, the female from 30 to 55 kilograms.

Siberian wolf

It is no less a large animal than the Russian wolf. Many scientists believe that today this species has been isolated conditionally, since the taxonomy of Siberian predators has not yet been completed. These animals have several colors. Light gray is more common. Ochre shades are hardly noticeable or completely absent. The fur is not very tall, but rather thick and soft. Most often found in the Far East, Kamchatka (except for the tundra), in Eastern Siberia and Transbaikalia.

Steppe wolf

This animal is somewhat smaller than the representatives of the forest subspecies. He has coarser and thinner hair. On the back there is a color with a noticeable predominance of gray-rusty, and often brown hair. In this case, the sides remain light gray. Today this wolf can be found in the steppes of the Caspian Sea, the Urals, the Lower Volga region. The species is poorly studied. The system of characteristic features has not yet been developed. The number of these animals is small, especially in the western areas of the range.

Caucasian wolf

This animal belongs to medium-sized predators. The Caucasian wolf has a coarse and short guard hair, the undercoat is poorly developed. The color of this animal is much darker than that of the previously described species. This is due to the even distribution of black guard hairs over the hide.

In our country, it lives in the regions of the Main Caucasian ridge, including its wooded foothills.

Mongolian wolf

And this wolf is the smallest living on the territory of Russia. The weight of an adult animal is rarely more than forty kg. Its fur is dull, dingy gray, rough and tough. This species is common in the east and southwest of Transbaikalia, as well as in the Primorsky Territory.

Tundra wolf

A large and beautiful animal. You can see his photo below. The body length of males often exceeds 150 cm. Predators have long, soft and thick fur. Color - light colors. In our country, this wolf settles in the forest-tundra and tundra zones of the European part of Kamchatka and Siberia.

Central Russian (forest) wolf

A powerful predator that lives in the forest-steppe and steppe zones of Russia, often populates and Western Siberia... In the northern regions, it has entered the forest-tundra. Although it is generally believed that the largest in Europe and Asia is a representative of this subspecies, it often exceeds it in size.

An adult animal can have a body length exceeding 160 cm, and its height reaches a meter. Of course, such parameters are typical for the largest individuals. On average, an adult male weighs 45 kg, a male (1 year and 8 months) - 35 kg, and a arrived (8 months) - 25 kg. She-wolves are 20% lighter.

The predator is distinguished by its classic, in gray tones with an admixture of ocher, color. The Central Russian wolf lives in the forests of Central Russia, often penetrates the west of Siberia. In the northern regions it enters the forest-tundra.

polar Wolf

This beautiful and powerful animal inhabits the Arctic. perfectly adapted to the harsh climate. Warm and dense wool protects it from frost and piercing winds.

This type of wolf is distinguished by its keen eyesight and excellent scent, which help in hunting for the few living creatures that live in these harsh places. An insufficient amount biological feed and difficulties in obtaining food lead to the fact that the predator eats the prey completely, leaving neither the bones nor the skin of its prey.

The average weight of an animal is from 60 to 80 kg, height is up to 80 centimeters. Amazingly, this animal, in case of an unsuccessful hunt, is able to live without food for several weeks. True, then the wolf can eat up to ten kilograms of meat at one time. Wolves living in Russia are more aggressive than North American ones. Attacks on people have been recorded.

The wolf is the largest member of the canine family. The first wolves appeared 18 million years ago, they descended from the extinct species Canis lepophagus.

Once the range of the wolf covered the entire northern hemisphere of our planet and was the second largest after humans. Now the wolf lives in some countries of Europe and Asia, and also lives in North America. In Europe, the wolf is found in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, the Baltic States, Scandinavia and the Balkans. In Asia, wolves are found in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Iran, Iraq, on the Indian subcontinent and the north of the Arabian Peninsula, as well as partly in China. Wolves inhabit North America from Alaska to Mexico.

Where does the wolf live?

Wolves inhabit various natural landscapes. For instance, red wolf lives in hard-to-reach swampy or mountainous areas. Tundra wolf, or polar, lives in the tundra and forest-tundra. Common wolf prefers to settle in forest-steppe, steppes, semi-deserts, avoids dense forests. Often, due to the destruction of their natural habitat, wolves settle near humans.

Wolves live in packs. Each flock has its own area, where they hunt and live permanently. For whom the wolves hunt, read the article. One such site can cover an area of \u200b\u200b30 to 60 km². The perimeter of the entire territory of the wolf pack is marked by the boundaries of "scent marks". Which wolves leave for other packs so that they do not encroach on their site. But still, often there are fierce fights for territory between the packs.

In the spring and summer period, the flocks break up. Each member of the pack occupies his own plot on the territory of the clan, where he gets food and lives. The best site remains with the dominant pair (alpha pair). Although the flock during this period switches to a semi-vagrant lifestyle, when puppies appear, all members of the pack take part in their upbringing and feeding.

For breeding, the she-wolf arranges a den. Usually, thickets of bushes, crevices in rocks or trees serve as a den. Also burrows of other animals (badger, arctic fox, marmot) can serve as a den. The she-wolf always arranges her lair in dense bushes, ravines, ravines near swamps or nearby rivers and lakes.

Until the moment the cubs learn to feed on their own, only their mother comes to the den. She does not allow other members of the pack to approach them.

Wolves never hunt near their lair. To get food, they leave the lair at a distance of 7-10 km. At this time, the mother or one of the members of the pack remains with the babies.

In the eyes of a child, a wolf is an animal from a fairy tale, for adults, a wolf is a character in films about werewolves. This is if we proceed from the fact that now people are captured by continuous television. Only you need to watch not only entertainment movies, sometimes you should pay attention to documentaries about life. Then you can learn about wolves a lot of interesting, most importantly, reliable. For example, how they behave in natural environment habitat, what kind of wolf is in nature, what kind of enemies threaten ... After reading this article, you can make sure that this is not such a terrible and unprincipled animal, as shown in horror films and fairy tales.

The wolf is a typical predator

In the animal world, the wolf is considered the most typical predator. Together with their closest "relatives" - coyotes, jackals, they honorably take their place in the wolf family. There are only 2 species of real wolves in the world - red and gray.

It won't take much time to describe the appearance of this predator, there is no such person who does not know what a wolf looks like. There are all the signs of a real predator! The body is slender and at the same time tightly knit, designed for long transitions and fast running (the wolf can reach speeds of up to 60 km / h), the muzzle is elongated. All this is accompanied by the obligatory "decoration" of the predator - two rows of large and sharp teeth (with one bite the wolf gnaws a sheep's throat). The claws on their paws are dull, they grind off from walking, these animals move a lot. It is not for nothing that the people say: "The legs feed the wolf!"

The size and color of the predators depends on their location. The northern representatives of this genus are rather large, with a light gray almost white coat. The predatory inhabitants of the middle lane are of the usual gray color, but among them there are rare beauties, whose wool from absolutely southern areas is brown and red, in size they are noticeably inferior to their relatives. Their weight and size are very small compared to the northern "brothers".

In what area does the wolf live in nature?

The life of wolves is quite possible in any locality, it would be so, but man applied his evil will to this. People stubbornly exterminated these predators in order to push them away from their homes. It so happens that the life span of a wolf in nature largely depends on

These hardy predators live in different areas and in any climate. It is possible to meet them in the wild in the mountains, forests, steppes and tundra. Only in Holland, Belgium, Denmark and France, our contemporaries, unfortunately, cannot see a wolf in the wild, in these countries animals are simply exterminated. You can admire them only in zoos. Here is such a sad fact.

The way of life of wolves in the natural environment

A wolf pack usually consists of 10-30 predators, these are pack animals. As it should be, each family is headed by an older couple of parents. The life of wolves in the wild is very interesting! Animals live in their community according to "wolf" laws, only in the good sense of this definition. The leader maintains strict discipline, distributes duties fairly and divides the spoils. The animals "talk" among themselves with the help of facial expressions and gestures. The simple grin of an alpha male and alpha females can put a naughty relative in place.

The life of wolves can tell us another interesting detail. The dominant couple always proudly holds their tail up, showing the rest of their superiority. Members of the pack, standing one step lower in rank, try to keep the tail an even continuation of the body. The lower the position of the animal in the family, the lower the tail goes down. The weakest keep him tucked in, despite the low position, no one dares to offend them. On the contrary, they can count on protection and a share of the prey, if only they themselves do not run into rudeness.

Mating season and procreation

The life span of wolves is not so long, considering all the dangers that lie in wait for them in nature. During their life, animals must have time to leave offspring in order for their race to continue. nature! Wolves bring puppies once a year.

The mating season begins in winter, the rut of one pair lasts for 5-10 days, and pregnancy lasts 60-64 days. In the spring, cubs are already squealing in the hole of a pair of wolves. Usually, there are from 3 to 5 babies in a brood, they are born blind and helpless, for a whole month and do not show their nose from the den. From 1.5 months they become real predators and begin to eat meat, however, it is half-digested, for the puppies it is regurgitated by the father of the family. Wolves create pairs of their own for life, only in the event of the death of one of the spouses, the remaining one looks for a new life partner, parents take care of the growing kids on equal terms.

Life span of wolves in nature

Wolves have few enemies among animals, they are brave and hardy, they have excellent hearing and keen eyesight, they have no one to fear. If this beast enters the battle, then it fights to the last breath. His main enemies are man and hunger! During the lack of food, many young inexperienced animals die, those that are older also suffer losses from this invisible enemy. As for people, it is they who take the life of the largest number of animals.

The life span of wolves in nature is about 6-10 years, but in the wild, the animal rarely survives to a ripe old age. Nature lovers know the arctic wolf, which was called the Sword, scientists observed its life. They recorded this beast as a long-liver wildlife, he managed to live to be 13 years old. But there are very few such "grandfathers" in the wolf family.

Life span of wolves in captivity

Wolves, like many other animals, live in captivity. They can be seen in zoos, even in our time there are many private estates, on the territory of which wolves rule as pets. They are well tamed, but hardly amenable to training, keeping the wild pride of the beast in captivity. Suck up to the owner as it does will not.

Under the protection of a person, being in captivity, a wolf can live up to 15 years. In this case, he is not threatened by his worst enemies - hunger and the person himself. Under good conditions of keeping, with high-quality nutrition, including everything necessary for a predator, a wolf can live 17-18 years.