Face to Face with Wolves

Page 1


The average wolf pack is six to eight wolves. A pack of 20 wolves, including five pups, recently lived near me in northern Minnesota. This unusually large pack eventually split. The alpha pair remained nearby, and the new pack went off to set up its own territory. Wolves are territorial. They will travel great distances, about 48 kilometres a day, to patrol their boundaries and to find food.

Wolves used to live all over the world, in North America, Asia and Europe. The map below shows the range of the grey and red wolf species today. (The arctic wolf is a subspecies of grey.)

Communicating Wolves are social animals, which means they live and cooperate with other wolves. They have many ways to communicate. Smells, sounds,

Wolf families The resident wolf pack near my home in Minnesota. Just 35 years ago, when I started photographing them, wolves were one of the most hated animals in the world. Today, they are one of the most loved. My photographs may have helped change attitudes – when you do something you care about, you can really make a difference!

10

Wolf families are called packs. The pack consists of a mother and father, called the alpha pair, and their offspring. The alpha female and alpha male are the leaders of the pack. The pups usually stay with the pack for two or three years. When they are grown, one of them might become the pack leader – or the alpha pair might drive them away. They then become lone wolves, who may someday join with other lone wolves to mate and form new packs.

NORTH AMERICA

E

U

A

P E R O

I S

A

A A FF RR II CC AA

SOUT TH H A AM MEERRI ICCAA

APPROXIMATE WOLF RANGES AU O SCTERAANL II A

Grey Wolf Subspecies: Arctic Wolf Red Wolf Land Area Without Wolves

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3000 miles 4000 kilometres

A A N N TT AA RR CC TT I I CC AA

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The average wolf pack is six to eight wolves. A pack of 20 wolves, including five pups, recently lived near me in northern Minnesota. This unusually large pack eventually split. The alpha pair remained nearby, and the new pack went off to set up its own territory. Wolves are territorial. They will travel great distances, about 48 kilometres a day, to patrol their boundaries and to find food.

Wolves used to live all over the world, in North America, Asia and Europe. The map below shows the range of the grey and red wolf species today. (The arctic wolf is a subspecies of grey.)

Communicating Wolves are social animals, which means they live and cooperate with other wolves. They have many ways to communicate. Smells, sounds,

Wolf families The resident wolf pack near my home in Minnesota. Just 35 years ago, when I started photographing them, wolves were one of the most hated animals in the world. Today, they are one of the most loved. My photographs may have helped change attitudes – when you do something you care about, you can really make a difference!

10

Wolf families are called packs. The pack consists of a mother and father, called the alpha pair, and their offspring. The alpha female and alpha male are the leaders of the pack. The pups usually stay with the pack for two or three years. When they are grown, one of them might become the pack leader – or the alpha pair might drive them away. They then become lone wolves, who may someday join with other lone wolves to mate and form new packs.

NORTH AMERICA

E

U

A

P E R O

I S

A

A A FF RR II CC AA

SOUT TH H A AM MEERRI ICCAA

APPROXIMATE WOLF RANGES AU O SCTERAANL II A

Grey Wolf Subspecies: Arctic Wolf Red Wolf Land Area Without Wolves

0 0

3000 miles 4000 kilometres

A A N N TT AA RR CC TT I I CC AA

11


Pups love to join the rest of the pack in howling, but do so at a higher pitch.

S

The pack often leaves the pups in the care of a babysitter. This wolf’s job is not just to play with and protect them, but to teach important lessons about being a wolf.

cientists often compare the wolf pack to a human family, because wolves live together and care for one another, just like humans. The wolf pack near my house has often seemed like family to me. This spring, when I realised that two of the pack’s wolf pups had died, I felt the loss strongly. Wolf pups Each year, around April or May, the alpha female usually bears one litter of four to six pups. Wolf pups weigh half a kilogram at birth and are blind, deaf, and completely dependent on their mother. 15


Pups love to join the rest of the pack in howling, but do so at a higher pitch.

S

The pack often leaves the pups in the care of a babysitter. This wolf’s job is not just to play with and protect them, but to teach important lessons about being a wolf.

cientists often compare the wolf pack to a human family, because wolves live together and care for one another, just like humans. The wolf pack near my house has often seemed like family to me. This spring, when I realised that two of the pack’s wolf pups had died, I felt the loss strongly. Wolf pups Each year, around April or May, the alpha female usually bears one litter of four to six pups. Wolf pups weigh half a kilogram at birth and are blind, deaf, and completely dependent on their mother. 15


A wolf reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming chases after a herd of elk.

22

There are many scientific studies of wolves being carried out. The longest study of the wolfand-prey relationship is at Isle Royale National Park on Lake Superior, the largest of the North American Great Lakes, scientists have been observing wolves and their relationship with moose for 50 years. In 1995 and 1996, wild wolves from Canada were released, or reintroduced, in the northern Rocky Mountains of Yellowstone National Park and in Idaho. Yellowstone is now the best place to see and hear wild wolves.

Local ranchers were opposed to the wolf reintroductions and threatened to shoot them to prevent them from attacking livestock. A group called Defenders of Wildlife worked out a compromise. They established a fund to pay farmers and ranchers for livestock that the wolves killed. However, it’s not always clear how the livestock died. Wolves often eat animals that have died from other causes.

Here I am, following wolf tracks and hoping to find a wolf pack in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

23


A wolf reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming chases after a herd of elk.

22

There are many scientific studies of wolves being carried out. The longest study of the wolfand-prey relationship is at Isle Royale National Park on Lake Superior, the largest of the North American Great Lakes, scientists have been observing wolves and their relationship with moose for 50 years. In 1995 and 1996, wild wolves from Canada were released, or reintroduced, in the northern Rocky Mountains of Yellowstone National Park and in Idaho. Yellowstone is now the best place to see and hear wild wolves.

Local ranchers were opposed to the wolf reintroductions and threatened to shoot them to prevent them from attacking livestock. A group called Defenders of Wildlife worked out a compromise. They established a fund to pay farmers and ranchers for livestock that the wolves killed. However, it’s not always clear how the livestock died. Wolves often eat animals that have died from other causes.

Here I am, following wolf tracks and hoping to find a wolf pack in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

23


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