GENERAL INFORMATION

The gray wolf is the largest member of the wild dog family found in North America. They once roamed throughout much of this country, including the southern Appalachians, but have now been eliminated from most of their former range. The closest remaining population of gray wolves to our area is in upper Michigan. DESCRIPTION
Gray wolves are quite variable both in size and coloration, depending on the area where they occur. They somewhat resemble a large German Shepherd dog but have much longer legs and very large feet. Their general coloration is a grizzled gray but there are many other color variations including white and black. A large male gray wolf may be as tall as 3 feet at the shoulder and weigh more than 100 pounds. Female gray wolves tend to be smaller than the males. Gray wolves are powerful animals designed for chasing large prey. Their jaws are very strong with teeth similar to other large meat-eating animals like the lion and tiger. Wolves also possess excellent senses of sight and hearing.           

HABITS AND HABITATS

Gray wolves are highly social animals, living in packs averaging around seven or eight animals. Within the pack, there are very defined rankings of individual animals. The pack is led by a dominant male and female who do most of the breeding. Members of the pack communicate between each other by using a variety of sounds including howls, whines, yelps, and growls and also by the use of various facial expressions and body postures. Wolves feed on a variety of different prey, both large and small, including rodents, rabbits, and deer. In taking larger prey, the wolf pack works as a team to coordinate its efforts to make the kill. Wolves normally prey mostly on the old, sick, or weakest animals which are the easiest to catch. By their selective hunting, wolves help to maintain strong and healthy populations of their prey. Wolves begin breeding when they are 2 to 3 years old, during late winter. The pups, averaging 6 to a litter, are born during the spring in a den dug in the ground. All the members of the pack help to care for the young. The wolf pups are weaned in about five weeks a'nd by fall, are large enough to join the pack. Gray wolves occupy many types of habitats including forests, plains, and mountains.

HISTORY

The gray wolf has long been feared and hated by many people partly due to their occasional attacks on livestock, and also because of man's prejudice and misconceptions about these large predatory animals. People also believe that they may be attacked by a wolf, when in fact, there has never been a documented case of a healthy wild wolf attacking a human in North America. Wolves have been shot, trapped, and poisoned to the extent that they are no longer found in most areas. The last known gray wolf in North Carolina was killed in Haywood County in 1887.

MEET OUR GRAY WOLVES

The Nature Center's gray wolves are the most recent addition to the Predator Habitat, which is also home to our pair-of red wolves. The male and two females came to us in July, 1993, when they were about 4 months old from Wolf Park, a research facility in Indiana dedicated to the behavioral study of the gray wolf. Like all the other wolves at Wolf Park, our pups were socialized to humans at a very early age. This enables them to be easily handled by their keepers and observed by people, while still naturally interacting with each other. All three of our gray wolves are from the same litter. To prevent them from breeding, the male wolf received a vasectomy when he was about 9 months old. He is quite a bit larger than his sisters and recently weighed in around 120 pounds! The alpha or leadership position of the Nature Center's "pack" is held by the male wolf. He frequently asserts his dominance over his sisters by snarling and biting them on their muzzle and generally being a bully! The alpha female position is held by the darker of the two female wolves. The female wolf with the large amount of gray shading in her coat is the lowest ranking of the three siblings. She is very friendly to people but submissive to her litter mates. Although all three of our gray wolves act very friendly and curious to people, it is important to remember that they still retain many of their wild characteristics. Visitors should never attempt to pet them through the fence.

INFORMATION LINKS

International Wolf Center
NOVA: Wild Wolves
Timber Wolf Information Network

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©2002 WNC Nature Center