Welcome to Wolf Tales! A blog all about wolves and their
awesomeness.
Here are some fun facts about the history and behaviors of
our furry friends:
1. Wolves do not make good guard dogs because they are naturally
afraid of the unfamiliar and will hide from visitors rather than bark at them.a
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| protective paws |
2. Wolves run on their toes, which helps them to stop and turn
quickly and to prevent their paw pads from wearing down.b
3. A male and female that mate usually stay together for life. They
are devoted parents and maintain sophisticated family ties.c
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| Wolf Love! |
4. A hungry wolf can eat 20 pounds of meat in a single meal, which
is akin to a human eating one hundred hamburgers.d
5. A wolf pack may contain just two or three animals, or it may be
10 times as large. b
6. Wolves can swim distances of up to 8 miles (13 kilometers) aided
by small webs between their toes. d
7. Biologists have found that wolves will respond to humans
imitating their howls. The International Wolf Center in Minnesota even sponsors
“howl nights” on which people can howl in the wilderness and hope for an
answering howl. d
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| yep, if you howl you just might get a response! |
8. A wolf can run about 20 miles (32 km) per hour, and up to 40
miles (56 km) per hour when necessary, but only for a minute or two. They can
“dog trot” around 5 miles (8km) per hour and can travel all day at this speed.
a
9. Unlike other animals, wolves have a variety of distinctive
facial expressions they use to communicate and maintain pack unity. c
10. The Vikings wore wolf skins and drank wolf blood to take on the
wolf’s spirit in battle. They also viewed real wolves as battle companions or hrægifr (corpse trolls). e
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| be the wolf! |
11. Wolves evolved from an ancient animal called Mesocyon, which lived
approximately 35 million years ago. It was a small dog-like creature with short
legs and a long body. Like the wolf, it may have lived in packs a
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| Look, they're playing! ...sort of |
12. Where there are wolves, there are often ravens (sometimes known
as “wolf-birds”). Ravens often follow wolves to grab leftovers from the
hunt—and to tease the wolves. They play with the wolves by diving at them and
then speeding away or pecking their tails to try to get the wolves to chase them
a
13. The Greeks believed that if someone ate meat from a wolf-killed
lamb, he or she ran a high risk of becoming a vampire. e
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| Remus, shown in his human and wolfy forms |
14. Werewolf (wer “man” + wulf “wolf”) trials (which can be distinguished from
witchcraft trials) led to hundreds of executions during the 1600s. Men, women,
and children—many of whom were physically and mentally handicapped—were put to
death. e
15. In the Harry Potter universe,
werewolf Remus Lupin’s name is directly related to the Latin word for wolf (lupus) and suggests an
association with one of the founders of Rome, Remus, who was suckled by a wolf.
The dual nature of Lupin’s werewolf nature suggests that in the Potter realm,
there are two sides to everything e
Come back soon for more awesome info on wolves!
Sources:
a Reid, Mary E. 2005. Wolves
and Other Wild Dogs. Chicago, IL: World Book, Inc.
b Leach,
Michael. 2003. Wolf: Habitats, Life Cycles, Food
Chains, Threats. New York, NY: Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishers.
c Dutcher, Jim and Jamie Dutcher. 2005. Living with
Wolves. Seattle, WA: Braided River.
d Brandenburg, James and
Judy Brandenburg. 2008. Face
to Face with Wolves. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.
e Ménatory, Anne. 2005. The Art of
Being a Wolf. New York, NY: Barnes & Noble Books.
