North Cascades

Threatened and Endangered Species

Gray Wolf Canus lupus The gray wolf, also known as the timber wolf, is the largest member of the dog family. Gray wolves measure 26-34 inches at the shoulder and are about 6-1/2 feet in length. Adults weigh between 85 and 95 pounds. Their fur colors vary from white to black, although brown, mixed with black, white, and tan is the most common color pattern. Wolves have long legs, large feet, and narrow chests. These adaptations help them to move through snow and thick underbrush. The large feet allow them a greater surface area to walk on in snowy and muddy terrain. Wolves often travel on and along game trails, dirt roads, shorelines, and even highways in the winter to avoid deep snows. Wolves are highly socialized creatures. They live in family groups called packs. A hierarchy exists amongst the pack members; some wolves are leaders and others are followers. A pack can consist of two to 26 individuals, with an average of seven to eight individuals per pack. The size of the pack depends on the quantity and quality of food, water, shelter, and space. The lead, or alpha, male and the lead, or alpha, female wolves mate in the early spring. An average of six pups are born 63 days later. The pups are born blind and helpless, usually in a sheltered place such as a hole, rock crevice, hollow log, or overturned stump. Wolves are carnivores; they feed on large prey such as deer, rather than smaller animals such as rabbits. The teeth of a wolf are designed to tear and cut large chunks of meat and to crush and crack bone. A wolf can consume enormous amounts of food in short periods of time; each wolf is also well adapted to go for long periods of time, even days, without food. As predators, it is usually the young, old, sick, injured, and crippled animals that wolves remove from the surrounding animal populations. The removal of these animals increases the amount of food, space, and cover for the remaining animals. Wolves communicate with each other in a great variety of ways. They position themselves in various poses to indicate aggression or subservience. They whimper, growl, and make other sounds in response to pleasure, fear, or pain. The ears may be erect or flattened against the head and the tail wagged or held stiff depending on the wolf's mood or specific situation. Howling is the most commonly recognized wolf sound. Wolves howl for many reasons like to assemble the pack before and after a hunt, to advertising territory or to identify individuals, and, perhaps, to just howl.