Not a Bird

Like seriously. Wolves we see in movies and media… Not how wolves behave. At all.

1. A lone wolf is cool, strong and, something to strive to be. FALSE.

Lone wolves have either lost, left or been pushed out of a pack. They are likely starving, lonely and/or looking for a new family or mate. Wolves are highly social and need companionship. They don’t want to be alone.

2. An alpha wolf is the biggest, baddest wolf in the pack who fights for their position. FALSE.

There are TWO Alpha wolves in a pack. They are mom and dad, the oldest and usually the smartest cause they have experienced the most. They are usually more timid and less likely to put themselves in danger because they are the only wolves in the pack that breed. If they die, the rest of the family will likely loose their way and eventually break apart.

Biggest wolves are usually the ‘betas’ who are children of the alphas (cause most everyone in the pack are puppies from mom and dad) and are generally more likely to investigate.

3. Wolves are brave and will hunt down intruders to there territory. FALSE.

Wolves are HUGE scaredy cats. They are naturally neophobic after about 6months to a year. Something new and different shows up in there territory, they are likely to avoid or keep their distance. They are NOT going to attack unless food or puppies are involved. They are great at communicating and you will know you need to back off long before you are in danger. This also means that no, that ‘wolf dog’ is not going to be a loyal and protective pet.

4. Wolves adopt. This is true.

Wolves are puppy crazy. Like they love puppies (for the most part) and its very common for packs to adopt puppies into their family. No issues with breeding cause, only mom and dad are allowed to do that. this is a way that puppies breed in captivity have been introduced to the wild, by being left near known nursing females and the pack will often come find them and bring them home. You want to known how much they love puppies? Wolves will give up their own meals to make sure puppies get fed first. Wolves can gorge themselves on up to 20lb of food and have been seen regurgitating for puppies and pregnant mothers.

Please stop demonizing wolves.

The “alpha wolf” myth is, also, toxic and harmful and used to support nasty stuff in human society.

A wolf pack is a family. It’s mom, dad, the kids who haven’t left home yet and are helping look after the younger kids.

Wild wolves are hard to observe because they hear us before we hear them and tend to slip away. I’ve had the great privilege of seeing a wild wolf precisely once in my life.

Oh, and you cannot mistake a wolf for A. a dog or B. a coyote.

I got to pretty much directly compare wolf and coyote.

In addition to being quite a bit smaller, coyotes tend to bounce and cover ground that way, their action is more elevated. They’re very upright.

Wolves move closer to the ground and tend to glide.

MAYBE you might mistake a stationary coyote for a wolf, but when they move the difference is quite stark.

Siblings