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It's obvious who Aniu is , but I believe the white wolf is more of a spiritual icon to Balto about his wolf side, or just sheer dumb luck he ran into Balto which motivated him to get the job done.

I doubt the topic will go far with answers like that

White wolf in B1 is probobly a spirit(Aniu may be a soul),and it dosen't look the same with Aniu.

to me they still look alike. Maybe Balto was trying to hard to find his courage and just didn't reconize Aniu in the first film. I don't really know.

If it was or wasn't really doesn't matter...it was a symbol to Balto's wolf spirit he had either way and he was faced that he had to accept it instead of feeling bad because of something he was..

Here's my opinion, I think both wolves are the same. Although the wolf in the first film is larger than balto, the white wolf was probably older than him(which might explain the size difference) plus most mixed breed dogs vary in size. For example my Beagle mix Sienna who passed away in 2004 weighed 40lbs, the two breeds I think she was mixed with, Harrier/Hamiltonstovare both have different sizes. Female harriers weigh 48 1/2 to 59 1.2 lbs and female Hamiltonstovares weigh 59 1/2 lbs. So in short with my dog she's 8 lbs smaller than the size her parents might've been.

Back to Balto, purebred male Siberian huskies wigh 52 lbs Artic wolves weigh over 100! so it probably makes sense why Balto's mom would be bigger than him.

Plus in a lot of sequels there's usually a few goofs or changes made like 101 Dalmatians 2 for example the pups have all white or spotted ears except for Patch & Pongo. The the original animated film a few of the pups did have black ears.

Either way some sequels are good and some aren't. Like Balto 3 for example was a bit more successful.