Wolf Watch, by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online! NPS Photo.

 Wolf Monitor, Current News, Sightings, Legal Action, Wolf Pack Maps, Photos     By News Reporter Cat Urbigkit • Pinedale Online!

Home | General Info | Packs | Legal | Reference | Maps | Depredation | Wolves on the Ranch | Wolves Kill Dogs | Wolf Impacts | Control | Photos | Links | Humans

GENERAL INFORMATION

Gray wolves (Canis lupus) are the largest wild members of the dog family
(Canidae). Adult gray wolves range from 40–175 pounds, depending upon sex and region. In the Northern Rocky Mountains, adult male gray wolves average over 100 pounds, but may weigh up to 130 pounds. Females weigh slightly less than males. Wolves have a wide range of fur color, frequently a grizzled gray, but it can vary from pure white to black.

Gray wolves have a circumpolar range including North America, Europe and
Asia. As Europeans began settling the United States, they poisoned, trapped, and shot wolves, causing this once- widespread species to be eradicated from most of its range in the 48 conterminous states.

Wolves primarily prey on medium and large mammals. Wolves have a social structure, normally living in packs of two to 12 animals. In the Northern Rocky Mountains, pack sizes average about 10 wolves in protected areas, but a few complex packs have been substantially bigger in some areas of Yellowstone National Park. Packs typically occupy large distinct territories (200–500 square miles) and defend these areas from other wolves or packs.

Once a given area is occupied by resident wolf packs, it becomes saturated and wolf numbers become regulated by the amount of available prey, intraspecies conflict, other forms of mortality, and dispersal.

Dispersing wolves may cover large areas as lone animals as they try to join other packs or attempt to form their own pack in unoccupied habitat. Dispersal distances in the Northern Rockies average about 60 miles, but dispersals over 500 miles have been documented.

Females and males typically begin breeding as two-year-olds and may annually produce young until they are over 10 years old. Litters are typically born in April and range from one to 11 pups, but average around five pups. Most years, four of these five pups survive until winter. Wolves can live 13 years but the average lifespan in the Northern Rockies is less than four years. Pup production and survival can increase when wolf density is lower and food availability per wolf increases. Breeding members also can be quickly replaced either from within or outside the pack. Consequently, wolf populations can rapidly recover from severe disruptions, such as very high levels of human-caused mortality or disease.
After severe declines, wolf populations can more than double in just two years if mortality is reduced; increases of nearly 100 percent per year have been documented in low-density suitable habitat.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service


FAST FACTS

Wolf populations can rapidly recover from severe disruptions such as very high levels of human-caused mortality or disease. After severe declines, wolf populations can more than double in just two years if mortality is reduced. FWS reported that increases of nearly 100 percent per year have been documented in density suitable habitat.


Wolves can live 13 years but the average lifespan in the Northern Rocky Mountains is about four years.


The average gray wolf breeds at 30 months of age.


At the end of 2005, at least 118 wolves in 13 packs occupied Yellowstone National Park, a 31 percent drop in the park’s wolf population. Most of the decline was attributable to very poor pup survival due to disease.


SPONSORS

Pinedale Online!
Pinedale Online!

For Sponsorship info please call: 307-276-5699 or 307-360-7689,
E-mail for more information

 Home | General Info | Packs | Legal | Reference | Maps | Depredation | Wolves on the Ranch
Wolves and Humans | Wolves and Dogs | Wolf Impacts | Control | Photos | Links | About Cat
About Cat
Cat's Books
Paradise Sheep

Sponsorship

Got a news tip?
Submit photos, stories, links, tips or information.
Cat Urbigkit
c/o Pinedale Online!
PO Box 2250
Pinedale WY 82941


cat@pinedale.com
For permission to reprint Cat's articles and photos (one-time, non-exclusive) posted here, please contact Cat Urbigkit at Pinedale Online.Contact Cat or Pinedale Online for sponsorship info: 307-360-7689 or 307-276-5699, Fax: 307-276-5414, support@pinedaleonline.com
         

This Wolf page is a special feature of Pinedale Online! www.PinedaleOnline.com. Wolf running header photo by National Park Service.