Not that anyone probably cares about information on wolves in general, but I thought I'd post a little something about Arctic Wolves.
Source of Information: Zoobook
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The majestic arctic wolf lives in the silent vastness of the barren polar region, where darkness cloaks the land for up to five months of the years. Here it hunts almos every other living animal.
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus & Species: Canis lupus arctos
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Food & Hunting:
Full-grown caribou and musk are far too powerful for a single wolf to attack alone, so wolves must always work together as a pack when huntng large prey.
Surprise attacks are almost impossible on the open tundra; by the time the pack approaches, its prey is in a defensive stance. Musk oxen, for example, will form a circle, with their calves safely on the inside. The wolf pack must then try to disrupt the herd.
The wolves circle the herd and prowl around, forcing the oxen to shift their ground to face them. If the wolves are successful, the oxen scatter.
Once the herd has scattered, the wolves give chase, trying to isolate a young or weak animal. If one wolf catches a victim, the others will aid in killing it. A musk ox provides enough food to last the wolves for several days.
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Habitat:
Arctic wolves inhabit some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world. In April, the air temperature rarely rises above -22 degrees F, and the ground is frozen year-round. The arctic wolf is one of the few mammals that can tolerate these conditions.
The wolf preys on lemmings and arctic hare, but its most substantial source of food is the musk ox and caribou. Because of the scarcity of grazing plants, the animals must roam a large area in order to find enough food to survive. Consequently, the wolf pack has to travel over areas of up to 800 square miles in search of prey.
When winter temperatures plummet, the wolves may follow migrating caribou south.
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Breeding:
Throughout the fall and winter, wolves keep on the move. But after mating in March, the pregnant female leaves the pack to find a nursery den. She may dig a new one, but where the ground is frozen, she will be forced to return to an old den in a cave or rock cleft.
The cubs are born deaf, blind, and helpless. They are totally dependent on their mother, and she in turn relies on her mate to bring her the food she needs.
After a month, the cubs are able to eat meat. From then on, the whole pack shares in the job of feeding them with regurgitated meat from a kill.
The cubs may strike out on their own the following year.
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Behavior:
Wolves usually live in small packs, or family groups, that consist of a breeding pair, their cubs, and their unmated offspring from the previous two or three seasons. The two dominant wolves, the breeding pair, are known as the alpha male and the alpha female. The other wolves defer to them. All of the adults in the pack cooperate in feeding and caring for the cubs.
Lone wolves are usually young males that have left the pack in search of their own territories. The avoid other wolves, unless they are potential mates. If a lone wolf finds unoccupied territory, it will claim it by marking it with its scent. It then attracts a mate, and starts a new pack.
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KEY FACTS:
Sizes:
Length: Head and body, 3-5 ft.
Shoulder height: 25-31 in.
Weight: Up to 175 lb. Females lighter.
Breeding:
Sexual maturity: Males, 3 years. Females, 2 years.
Gestation: 63 days.
Litter size: 4-5 cubs.
Lifestyle:
Habit: Family packs of about 7-10.
Call: Chorus of howls.
Diet: Mainly arctic hares, musk ox, caribou, and lemmings.
Lifespan: 8-16 years.
Related Species:
The arctic wolf is a subspecies of the gray wolf. Others include the timber wolf of America and the common wolf of Eurasia.
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The Social Status In A Wolf Pack:
Social status within the wolf pack is expressed by a complex "language" of gestures, barks, and growls. High-ranking wolves constantly assert their position, making lesser members cringe or lie on their backs in a gesture of submission. Despite this behavior, or perjaps because of it, there is very little friction.
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Distribution:
Througout the Arctic land mass, but not on the permanent sheets of sea ice.
Conservation:
Wolves in general have been threatened throughout history. The arctic wolf is the only subspecies still found over the whole of its original range, largely because it rarely encounters humans.
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DID YOU KNOW?
--- Wolves will often go days without food, but can the eat up to 10 pounds of meat at one time.
--- Food is so scarce in the Arctic that no part of a wolf's prey is wasted; a wolf will eat every part of a arctic hare, including the skin, fur, and bones.
--- Several of the younger pack members will "babysit" the cubs while the mother wolf is hunting.
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Well, I hope you guys enjoyed reading the info I found, and possibly learned some new things. PM me if you disagree with any of this. I typed it straight from the Zoobook page itself, so, you really shouldn't be angry, but you never know what people will think these days...
