The Grey Wolf
Published by There are many subspecies of the wolf and they hold different names all over the world, such as The Wolf, The Gray wolf, the Grey Wolf, or Timber Wolf. Every nation in the world has their own, and these are the most common. These wild dogs are survivors of the last Ice Age, and will be of the next one too, as they can easily adapt to their surroundings and are a very smart animal when it comes to survival.
The Grey Wolf
Image via Wikipedia
Wolves hunt in packs, they sleep in packs they laze around in packs, they are a very social breed. They always stay in family packs and the bigger the family the more power they have against other families of wolf. In these families there are ranks to keep order in the family, a dominant male and two or three females and their off spring. Rival brothers growing up will challenge each other to determine who will take the spot of being next in line. This position usually goes to the stronger of the siblings but also the smartest, they need to prove that they can lead, plan attacks and know how to hunt, they need to know how to survive and keep the pack alive too. The failing brother or brothers will leave the pack and wander off by themselves in search of another pack to join or create.
In doing this they will learn the hard way of how to survive in the wild. The have to pick up the skills fast or face certain death. They learn that they do not have the safety, the warmpth or security of the pack now and that they are on their own. They also have to pick up their attack skills and hunting abilities. All his life so far depended on the strike of 4-8-12 wolves at a time to take down a target, and as dangerous as that was with the collective group, he wouldn’t stand a chance by him self or even with a brother.
They do not stay with their families because of the simple fact is that, they will just be fighting all the time and this is not good for any social network, even humans. The wolves know this and they will not follow orders of their rivals, they figure that they are the wolf for the job and form their own pack in spite.
Lone wolf
You have heard the expression of the lone wolf, you often relate it to military operations and war films on television. Well this is true it is usually used for covert operations but the term originated from the study of animals and how they work in the wild. Every military strike that is used today has origins of the behaviour of animals, they even designed the fighter jets around the birds design and movements.
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On March 10, 2009 at 8:55 am
KEWL! I love wolves. -That snarling on with the blue color is downright scary though!
My nickname used to be ‘the wolf’ because I can do this blood-curdling wolf-cry that sounds like a horror movie just before the werewolf leaps out!
They introduced a small breeder-pack of wolves in Yellowstone Nat’l Park a few years ago (to the great consternation of local sheep and cattle ranchers), -wonder how that’s working out..
Excellent article, awesome pics!
-thestickman
On March 10, 2009 at 11:28 am
Wolves are such awesome creatures. I love reading your articles on animal life. You’ve done a great job here as well with some great pictures.
On March 10, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Awesome article. Well written, informative and great pics.
On March 10, 2009 at 2:18 pm
I love your articles. and the pictures!!!
On March 10, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Good article. A passion of mine, my husband used to work for the Michigan fish and Game. Wolves are wonderful, misunderstood creatures. Good pictures.
On March 10, 2009 at 5:42 pm
You do a great job of covering the ups and downs in the life of the wolf. They are the role model for survival of all land animals and the kings of the attack. Great write, Stephen.
On March 10, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Your animal articles just keep getting better and better. Of course, wolves are a great topic; and you have done it very well.
On March 10, 2009 at 6:42 pm
I must say I really enjoyed this article! Keep it up!!
On March 10, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Great article but I feel you need to research this subject just a little bit more. You see I am a medicine man and of the wolf clan and was raised in the wilds among the wolves.
Wolf have a very structured circle and although there are what have been termed by man to be lone wolves there to this day, has never been a documented case of wolf or wolves killing a human out in the wild. Now mine you, humans have been attack by wolf/wolves that have been kept in zoo,s that fell into there caged areas though.
A wolf will only in most cases single out the sick or weakest animal in a herd. This is called culling the herds and by culling the rest of the herd stays strong and healthy.
All and all I found this to be a great article but thought I needed to set the record straight on this part of the article. Well done though and I will thumbs up and stumble this article.
On March 10, 2009 at 10:55 pm
A lot of good detail in describing wolves. I stumbled it.
On March 11, 2009 at 12:08 am
another good article.
On March 11, 2009 at 12:33 am
Wolves are a beautifully, powerful and mysterious animal – nice work!
Blessings.
Sincerely,
-Liane Schmidt.
On March 11, 2009 at 11:58 am
i love all your articles, specially this one!
On March 11, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Interesting article. I love wolves, they’re beautiful.
On March 14, 2009 at 11:08 am
Very interesting article, great pics too!
On May 18, 2010 at 5:19 pm
What\’s worst \”a pack of wolves\” or \”a lone wolf\”?