Wolves as Mans Best Friend?

Wolves are, in rare cases, kept as exotic pets and working animals. However, they are very different from the common household dog (who is thought to be an ancestor of the wolf that split from the same line 10,000 to 100,000 years ago) and requires much more training to become domesticated.

Wolf pups, because they require so much socialization, cannot be taken from their mother any later than 21 days (and preferably no later than 14). Four the first four months they need to be kept isolated from all adult canines, except for short weekly visits, so that they develop a strong imprint on humans. As pups wolves easily accept dominance from human caretakers, but as adults they are largely unpredictable. The aggression in them is genetic and can never be trained out of them, which means adult wolves can never be fully trusted with children or small animals. They also instinctively feel the need to rise up the pack hierarchy, and so they will try to challenge their owners in order to gain a higher position in what they see as their pack.

Wolves are trainable, however, they are much less responsive than dogs are to fear or force techniques, and consequently they require much more effort to train. They respond best to positive reinforcement and rewards, but simple praise is not enough (as it would be for dogs). It is common for trained wolves to get bored and begin ignoring commands they have responded appropriately to before. There have been mixed results in using wolves as working animals. An attempt has been made to form a wolf sled dog team, which was a complete failure as the wolves would not follow the commands. Another training attempt is being undertaken to establish wolves as tracking animals due to their wonderful sense of smell (which is considerably better than dogs commonly used as tracking animals) and establish a wolf team in the police force.

Although many people would like to adopt exotic pets, and the wolf is often thought of as a big dog, they are wild animals who need (and deserve) to be in the wild. Regardless of how domesticated they may seem and how much their owners love them, their mental and physical needs can only be met out in the wild.

Old Russian proverb: 

"You may feed the wolf as much as you like, but he will always glance towards the forest." 

Sources:

http://www.springwolf.com/wolves/nature/pets.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolves_as_pets_and_working_animals

General Reproductive Behavior of Wolves

The majority of wolves are monogamous, with mated pairs usually remaining together for life (unless one of the wolves dies, then the remaining wolf quickly re-establishes with another mate). In general, males are predominate in the wolf population and so it is not common for a female to be unpaired. Both incest and polygamy are very rare in wolf communities, majorly occurring in captive situations (in which either lifestyle may be necessary for survival). Wolf females are capable of producing a litter of pups every year, and the age of first breeding usually depends on environmental factors (in captivity wolves may begin breeding around 10 months, in the wild the first breeding age is around 2 years). Wolves are capable of breeding every year until death; in other words, they never reach reproductive senescence (or menopause).

The annual breeding season of wolves is in the winter (from late December until February/March), so that the pups are born in the spring when food is more abundant and the weather less harsh. The majority of this time (known as estrus) is used in preparation for mating; towards the end of this time the pack tends to temporarily dissolve until the mating season is over. Prior to the flirtatious period of estrus (in which the wolves tend to frequently touch one another, rest their heads on the others back, bond by sleeping close together, and “dance” with each other) the pack goes through a short period of increase in dominance 

within the hierarchy. The alpha-male and alpha-female begin to severely display their dominance towards the submissive members of the pack in order to reestablish their position as alpha pair and claim their breeding rights (this period of time prior to breeding season is when the majority of hierarchy changes occur), then the rest of the pack acknowledges their relationship and backs off from mating with “flirting” with either alpha. The ultimate act during the flirtatious period of estrus occurs when the female averts her tail to expose her genitalia to the male, indicating that the actual mating portion of breeding season will soon occur.

During this time the rest of the back tends to avoid the alpha pair and watch from a distance (other mating pairs within the pack are uncommon because the male involved may be chased out by the alpha male, and the alpha female is prone to infanticide of a rival females pups). The actual mating occurs multiple times a day from anywhere between two days and two weeks, with each copulatory “tie” lasting somewhere between 5 and 35 minutes. When the mating season ends (with the end of ovulation in females) the pack reconnects and the hierarchy goes back to normal while the wolves await the birth of the pups in April or May (as the gestation period lasts an average of 65 days). The alpha female tends to be the most dominant in the pack at this time, as she chooses the den and is brought food by her mate and the other pack members for herself and the pups.

There are few differences in reproductive behavior in different wolf breeds, most being due to environmental factors. For example, the grey wolf tends to have litter sizes of about 5-6 (with litters of 14-17 occurring 1% of the time) while the arctic wolf gives birth to an average litter size of 2-3 pups (with a 1% chance of a larger litter containing 12 pups). The arctic wolf also has a gestation period that tends to last one month longer than the grey wolf, presumably due to food scarcity and the need for the pups to grow stronger before birth. Another difference caused by environmental factors can be seen in areas like Yellowstone, in which there is a high abundance of prey and packs are able to support multiple breeding females. In this situation “Casanova wolves” (young males having failed to secure mates/territories of their own after leaving their natal pack) mate with daughters of established breeding pairs in other packs, and do not remain to pair bond with the female and help 

raise the pups.

Come Back Soon for Some More Awesome Info on Wolves!

Sources:
http://www.wolfcenter.org/breeding-behaviors.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_wolf#Reproduction
http://www.wolfcountry.net/information/WolfReproduction.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Wolf#cite_note-3

The Conservation Status of Wolves in North America

Background: 

Mexican Gray Wolf Pup

In 1973 when the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was first implemented several species of wolves were the first species placed under these federal protections. Under the protections of the ESA, wolf populations have begun to increase in areas of the lower 48 states; with gray wolves in the northern Rockies and Great Lakes, Mexican gray wolves in the Southwest and red wolves in the Southeast. While significant progress has been made in recovering the wolf, there is still suitable habitat remaining in many areas of the United States that do not have wolves. Several realistic possibilities have been examined in which it is believed that wolf recovery would be successful in increasing the wolf populations of the US. Currently, gray wolves are listed as endangered in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, New Mexico and portions of North Dakota, Utah, South Dakota, Ohio, Oregon and Washington. 

To view the Endangered Species Act of 1973 visit http://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/ESACT.HTML

Where wolves stand now: 

In mid 2011 the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it would be initiating a status review (which is required every five years for species listed under the Endangered Species Act) of the endangered grey wolves in the pacific northwest. In the USFWS’s surveyed region of the Pacific Northwest there is only one confirmed breeding pack: the Lookout Pack in Washington. 

The Original Lookout Pack of 2008

The Lookout Pack has been all but decimated by illegal poaching. When the pack was discovered around 2008 there were about 10 wolves, since then the wolves have been reduced to only two individuals! At least two of the wolves were killed by poachers in Methow Valley, and a third wolf (assumedly from the Lookout Pack) was illegally murdered and found dumped on the side of Highway 20 in Washington. Furthermore, it is believed that the disappearance of the pregnant alpha of the Lookout Pack in 2010 is due to poachers. Today the wolves are slowly returning to these areas, with the newest pack (the Smackout Pack) living in the Selkirk Mountains. As of the beginning of 2012 there are 27 wolves in the area of Washington and three pairs have been reported as successful breeding pairs.

To learn about wolves in other regions of North America visit http://www.defenders.org/programs_and_policy/wildlife_conservation/imperiled_species/wolves/wolf_recovery_efforts/index.php

The importance of taking action and how to get involved: 

Gray Wolf Abandoned for Sport

Poaching has become an epidemic and has significantly slowed the comeback of wolves in the Northwest. Hunters murder wolves mainly for sport, skins, and protecting livestock, but regardless of their reasons the hunting of wolves is still illegal. Although we only have one confirmed pack, several other wolves have been spotted in the Pacific Northwest, and their protection is fundamental to our planet. Wolf restoration efforts are incredibly important for our world because they help to ensure the long-term survival of wolves and contribute to a healthy ecosystem. Predatory behavior is fundamental in ensuring our ecosystem remains balanced and healthy. Wolves prey mostly on animals that are young, old, sick, injured, weak, or unfit, which keeps the prey populations 

The Results of Wolf Poaching

healthy, strong, and robust. The destruction of wolves in large areas of the US in the 19th and early 20th centuries altered the natural relationships among the animals ecologically connected with wolves. This disruption led to increases in some species and declines in others, significantly affecting biological diversity. This is an example of the “circle of life” connecting all species to each other. When the wolves disappear, the animals they prey on (in this example we will use coyotes) experience a population boom and consequently, another animal population experiences a significant, and possibly dangerous, population reduction because the number of animals they are threatened by has increased (e.g. the wild turkey experiences a population decrease after the amount of coyotes preying on them increases). 

To learn more about getting involved please visit http://www.defenders.org/programs_and_policy/wildlife_conservation/imperiled_species/wolves/take_action.php

Come back soon for more awesome info on wolves!

Sources:
http://www.defenders.org/index_v2.html
http://www.conservationnw.org/
http://www.fws.gov/laws/