Wolf Facts

Wolf Facts

General Appearance

Most wolves have a basically grey coat. Wolves can have a coat from almost pure white to jet black and a lot of other colours in between (although most artic wolves are pure white)

Wolves are quite intelligent animals just looking at a wolf scan it surroundings you can tell how intelligent it is.

Size

Most adult grey wolves weigh in the vicinity of 34-56 kilograms, most of the time male wolves are larger than female wolves with the biggest male wolves ever recorded weighing up to 79 kilograms.

As huge as wolves seem there fur often makes them look bigger. In the winter there coat (the hair on there backs and sides) averages 5-6.3 centimetres in length. While the hairs in the mane are 10-12.7 centimetres long these hairs are attached to muscles which allow them to stand on end making the wolf seem larger. Some wolves in studies in North America show 1.3-1.8 metres in total length nose-tip-to-tail-tip and in that length 1 quarter is the tail. Wolves can stand anywhere between 68-78 centimetres high at the shoulder.

Speed

Wolves have four gaits walk, trot, lope or gallop. They have long legs and they walk about 6.3 kilometres per hour but can reach speeds of 35mph during a chase. They usually travel at a trot which they can do at various speeds generally between 12.8 -16 kilometres per hour. Wolves will not run at full speed until they get as close to their prey as possible. Wolves can keep up the pace (12.8 - 16 kilometres) for hours on end all night if they have to that is up to 96 kilometres in a single night.

Grooming

Wolves apart from swimming will often wash their coats in the rivers and streams because wolves depend on their thick coats in the winter they spend most of their leisure time grooming themselves. In a pack grooming is a sign of friendship and often during mating season a couple will groom each other. If a wolf is injured the pack members will intensely groom him as a provider of physical and mental comfort.

Play

Wolves like most animals love to play bumping together shouldering each other flopping tails over each others back leaping placing their front paws on others necks. Pups when they play helps them develop strength hunting skills and helps in establishing pack communication.

Hunting Facts

Wolves kill and eat other animals for food. It depends where they live but thy usually feast upon animals such as deer, moose, elk or bison they also eat beavers rabbits and even mice. A myth that is totally untrue is that wolves eat humans so not true they would only hurt us to protect