#wolf science

Of all the apex predators in the animal kingdom, wolves are the ones that have adapted to our presence the least. Coyotes accept us happily. Bears tolerate us and root in our garbage. Wolves hide out in their forest and are okay with our roads and that’s about it. (In fact, some wolves in Russia like to run up and down the highways for fun scaring all rational human beings as they howl.) As much as humans are afraid of wolves, wolves are equally afraid of humans. Wolves are shy. Like humans, they have a fight or flight instinct and unlike ours, theirs is geared to flight first, fight second. Unless a wolf is sick, they are highly unlikely to attack a human. A sick wolf is like any animal, out of control and looking to defend itself.

Because of this, wolves don’t domesticate. They aren’t pets. And they would prefer to stay as far away from us strange smelling two legged animals as possible. (There are a few exceptions.) If a human wants to interact with a wolf, they have to learn the wolf’s language and be accepted by the wolf. Because the wolf isn’t going to do it the other way around. Even if bred with a domesticated dog, a wolfdog prefers the companionship of their human and their human only and needs several square miles of land to roam about in as their instincts to hunt kick in.

About that.

Wolves are HUNTERS. PERIOD.

In domesticated dogs, we have all types, guard dogs, bird dogs, scent hounds, dogs who like running, deer hounds and big fluffy things that make big pillows. These dogs love us and we love them. Not so with wolves. Wolves do one thing very well. That’s hunt. Wolves are designed to track down and hunt prey in groups. In fact, the prey that they prefer, animals like deer, elk and moose, are much larger than they are and it is very difficult for a singular wolf to take them down alone.

Hunting for wolves is mostly an act of opportunity. They know how the animals in their territory move. They can find where their prey was and track it from there through scent. Then they work together using group tactics to kill the animal. Wolves don’t go and rip out the jugular of their prey. That’s the purview of action and horror movies. Real wolves bleed their prey out by attacking the front and hind end and scratching it until the animal tires and then they go for the belly, not the throat because the belly is where the good meat is. Contrary to popular belief, the largest animal doesn’t eat first either, the hungriest animal does.

Because they are wearing the prey animal down and trying to dodge horns and hooves, the wolves “tag team” their prey. Two or three will attack the animal while the others rest and watch. When one group of wolves is tired and the others are rested they’ll switch out. In fact, it is believed wolves are smart enough to form group attack tactics and remember them. Wolves know that it’s easier to see things from high up than lower down for instance and if there are ridges in their territory will look for their prey from there instead of in the gullies.

Like I said, wolves are smart. They are smart enough to know that once they get old and blind and maybe disabled that the humans also keep the easy meat penned up. Sheep and cattle are easy meat. And owners can ride horses, have fences and keep big dogs that are mean to scare the wolves away and the wolves will still be able to kill the sheep or cattle. Then the humans get angry and take to helicopters and kill the wolves. (Grimace.)

They also tend not to kill unnecessarily. Sure, you hear hunters complain about coming across a mostly uneaten wolf kill in the woods and how horrible it was that the wolf didn’t finish their food. This isn’t true! (In my opinion, the human hunter is jealous!) Wolves, like humans, are a species that actually save their food for later. Except, unlike humans, they don’t have big metal cold boxes to put it in. If the wolves kill something that’s too big to eat and it’s cold out, they’ll let the meat freeze and come back to it later. This is called cold caching.

Cold caching also helps other animals in the food chain from crows, to vultures,  to the wandering coyote or even the bear that wakes up in the middle of winter and may need to eat to go back to sleep. This isn’t waste, but nature’s way of taking care of the entire ecosystem.

If I was going to put another shapeshifting species into the Heathens series, it’d be crows. In the wild, crows help wolves find prey and in return, wolves tear apart the bigger animal so that the crows can get smaller bits of meat. Animals can help each other, especially smart ones (like wolves and crows.)

Because their prey animals tend to be much bigger than they are, wolves live in groups that we call packs.

But the funny thing about packs is that wolf packs are actually FAMILIES.

Wolf packs are not in the wild groups of stranger wolves banding together to take down prey. No. Wolf packs are family units, a mother, a father and a bunch of siblings. Unlike dogs, wolves in the wild do not pack up with complete strangers. Dogs will group and form pack bonds with just about everybody, humans, different breeds, dogs they meet in the street. Not wolves. The only places that stranger wolves that aren’t related to each other live together is captivity. And as with most captivity situations, this changes things and is not good for the wolves. Only in captivity do wolves form groups with a strict hierarchy. Only in captivity will wolves kill their own pups. And only in captivity do males enter the den. None of this happens in the wild.

In the wild, wolf packs are wolf families that are all taking care of and learning from each other. There is no alpha, beta or omega. Mom makes the den for the puppies (and once she has them only she’s allowed inside.) Mom and dad teach the youngsters to hunt. And like all good parents, they allow their older children to lead the hunt in order for the older children to learn how. Then, when the older children leave they become “lone wolves” and may travel up to 800 miles in order to find a mate and create a new family group of their own. (And they may have to lure their mate away from their mate's family pack and just like in humans, mom and dad don't like this! They need the youngster to hunt, not leave! They'll make the lone wolf work to get their mate.)

Mom and dad and all the siblings do an equal part of emotional labor in taking care of the family group. Everybody hunts. Everybody takes care of the puppies and everybody plays together. Mom is just as likely to be in charge as dad. In fact, if mom is mean then one of her daughters might kill her and take care of her youngest siblings herself.

While neighboring wolf packs may be in competition with each other, they are also like your friendly neighbors. Mom and dad wolves mark the territory by peeing on it together. The nearer packs do the same, and if food is scarce they may fight each other over it. If food is plentiful, they are friendly neighbors who like to shout at each other long distance by howling or may get together and exchange greetings, shout and have a big old party. “Hey, hey, haven’t seen you in a while, how are you doing? Any interesting smells?” But they don’t ‘hang’ out on a regular basis and they wouldn’t get along in a dog park!

Wolves love to sing!

Of course, we all know that wolves love to howl. 99% of wolf art is either a wolf howling or a wolf snarling. (Frankly, I’m over both types.) Wolves love to sing so much that they start doing it as puppies while their parents are off hunting and they’re being minded by older siblings. It doesn’t matter what time of day it is or what time of night. Singing is an activity that wolves will engage in by themselves or in large groups. In fact, one wolf howling can start other wolves howling. (Just like in Zootopia.) Humans can also get wolves to howl with them!

Once wolves really get going, it can be difficult to tell if there is one wolf, two wolves or twenty wolves. This is because they can vary their pitch up and down the key of E.

Wolves love to party!

Neighboring groups of Wolves love to get together for something we humans call a howl. They’ll gather in order to exchange greetings, see pups and basically run around yipping in excitement and of course howling. This is like humans having a big party!

Wolves love to play.

Among each other, wolves can be pranksters. They like to play games on each other involving pouncing and attacking. To humans, this looks like they’re fighting. Sure, wolves do fight as most groups and families do, but many times it’s simply wolf play. Wolves have thick fur and hide so what would really hurt and bloody up a person barely makes a scratch on them. Wolf play is mostly practice for the very important skill of hunting.

Wolves can fish!

Hunting big animals like deer and elk are not the only sources of protein for a wolf. If a wolf pack lives near the water they also get a lot of their protein from fishing! They can snatch fish right out of the water. In fact, wolves also eat small rodents such as mice and a lot of berries. Wolves’ bodies are designed for a feast or famine type of life. So, they eat what they can, when they can, that way when food is scarce, they won’t starve to death even if they get very hungry. A wolf can eat up to five pounds of meat in one go.

Wolf courtship involves dancing.

Yep, like humans wolves like to dance! If a male and female wolf are in the process of courtship or it’s around mating season (October to January depending on weather,) they’ll get to know each other by dancing. Wolves can go up on their back legs and put their front legs on each other’s shoulders and either sway or walk around a bit. This makes them roughly six feet tall.

Apparently dancing in all social cultures promotes intimacy! Who knew?

Raising the puppies is a family affair.

There are three things that happen in wolf families when it comes to raising puppies. Everyone in the family helps take care of them and brings back food from the hunt for them. It’s an egalitarian society because survival is so difficult. When the puppies are very young and are still nursing, an older sister can have a false pregnancy with their mother in order to help her mother nurse her younger siblings. That way there are two females giving the puppies nourishment.

Once the puppies leave the den, for several months they are too young to go on the hunt and have to stick to the den area. (The den tends to be in the middle of the pack’s established territory.) So, the older siblings have to babysit. Now unlike humans who may whine and moan and fight not to take care of their siblings, wolves love their little siblings so much that even the male wolves will fight to stay behind and watch them. Older siblings are very indulgent of their younger siblings and let them pounce on them and even bite their tails.

Lastly, tragedy can happen and puppies can die due to sickness or injury or even starvation. When this happens before the mother buries the puppy, the entire family mourns the loss of the puppy. The mother will take the dead body of the puppy around to the entire group and they will lick it and howl and essentially say their good byes. Then the mother will bury the puppy. Wolves feel loss and sadness much like elephants and humans.