Basic Facts About The “Gray Wolf” and Why It Is Endangered
Basic facts on the Gray Wolf and why it’s one of Europe’s endangered animal species.
The Gray Wolf is just one of Europe’s endangered species. The height of and average Gray Wolf from its shoulder ranges from 0.6 to 0.9 meters and its weight varies between 32 and 68 kilograms.
The Gray Wolf’s habitat is around Europe, Asia and North America, but found mainly in Europe due to colder conditions. They are now commonly found in Russia and Canada because of habitation changes. It’s a fact that Gray Wolf’s are more vicious in Europe than in any other continent there found in, because (America especially) people would use firearms to hunt them so their more fearful to humans. The wolves’ main habitats are in Eastern Europe, there aren’t many left in Western Europe. The places where they can be found in Eastern Europe are Belarus, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Zagreb, Croatia, Romania, Slovakia and Lithuanian.
In the northern and central regions of Belarus there are about 1500 to 1800 wolves left. The only protection to help their numbers increase is a 60-70 pound bounty for each wolf killed, so there will be no gray wolf hunting. Gray Wolves like all other wolves are carnivores; they will eat most of the food they can hunt. During a few wars in Europe the wolves would eat the dead human corpses after battles. Some gray wolves would even attack the fighting soldiers for food because they were starving. The main foods to gray wolves are deer’s, moose and yak but they eat basically anything.
A gray wolf’s natural environment is mainly in cold conditions, that’s why they are mostly found in colder continents like Europe. They mainly live in dens in little bushy green lands this makes their coloration blend in with the environment, some live in snowy areas. A gray wolf’s den (below-left).
A gray wolf has many special adaptations like there woolly fur that provides insulation and the long guard hairs that keep the moisture out. Their paws have fleshy pads and claws for traction which can spread to provide better support in the snow. Their hearing is twenty times sharper than a humans and a sense of smell one-hundred times better. There jaws are able to deliver a crushing pressure of over 500 pounds per square inch.
Their eye sight is very motion sensitive, they also have a tapetum (reflective retina) that improves there vision at night, but they are color blind. They have a lot of stamina, they can cover a distance of more than eighteen miles, and they are capable of running at 40 miles per hour. Simple diagram of a gray wolf (below-right).
To help the gray wolves not get extinct the WWF is trying to get these wolves damaged habitats restored so they can move more freely and not get too close to humans. This will also help stop humans killing gray wolves because of them getting too close to them. The main problem with grey wolves being endangered is because of them being hunted, the WWF is also trying to have hunting restrictions to stop the rapid decrease in population. They are also educating locals living near the wolves habitats on how to avoid them without shooting them.
In Belarus there is a project run by the Balkani Wildlife Centre to decrease fights between wolves and farmers by supplying livestock guard dogs. The Gray wolf’s already extinct subspecies are the Hokkaido wolf, Honshu wolf and the Newfoundland wolf. The reason why the gray wolf is endangered is because there is only about 15500 to 18000 left in the whole of Europe, due to hunting and changes to there habitats. With WWF’s help the population is slowly raising.
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20 Responses to “Basic Facts About The “Gray Wolf” and Why It Is Endangered”
On October 7, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Wonder article Punksta. I actually own a dog that looks identical to these pictures. They are beautiful creatures.
On October 9, 2008 at 1:28 pm
you rock
On October 10, 2008 at 11:45 am
noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
On October 26, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I LOVE WOLVES!THEY ROCK!!!
On October 26, 2008 at 8:07 pm
You’re luckey Lauren Axelrod, I’ve always wanted a dog that looks like a wolve, but I’m not allowed to have any.
On October 26, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Sad.
On October 26, 2008 at 8:55 pm
DON’T YOU JUST LOOOOVE WOLVES! CAUSE I DO!!!!
On October 26, 2008 at 10:30 pm
DON’T YOU JUST LOOOOVE WOLVES! CAUSE I DO!!!!
COMON, SOMEBODY ANSWER!!!
On November 23, 2008 at 7:11 pm
i hate wolves iam jus doin it for my speech arts lol!
On December 9, 2008 at 9:18 am
i love wolves!!!!!
On January 3, 2009 at 1:45 pm
i absolutly love wolves so now i do reports on them!!!!!!!!!!!! i
On January 26, 2009 at 7:44 pm
This was a lot of help on the written part of my school project
On February 24, 2009 at 4:16 pm
This came in handy when I needed to wirte my science project not too long ago! I really love wolves and I find it sad that the Gray Wolf is on the endangered spices list. I hope that sometime in the future they come off the list. =D
On April 27, 2009 at 10:09 am
WOLFS ARE THE BEST ANIMAL IN THE WORLD
!!!!!!
On May 14, 2009 at 9:51 am
lol they are so cool deadly to i seen part wolf/dog
On June 7, 2009 at 6:23 pm
WOLVES RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK oh yea
On June 29, 2009 at 12:31 am
i love wolf\’s there so cute
i have been lerning bot them for a long time i love them!
On September 17, 2009 at 5:30 pm
well i don’t believ in wiki awnsers
On September 20, 2009 at 1:09 pm
walves are aborale, im doing a paper about them for school!
On October 23, 2009 at 12:00 am
cool gray wolves!!!!!
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