Gray+Wolf+2010



By: Noah B. The gray wolf, simply known as the wolf, is the largest member of the Canidae family. It was an ice age survivor during the Late Pleistocene around 300,000 years ago. Gray wolves are usually apex predators in the ecosystems that they occupy. Once abundant over most of Eurasia and North America, the gray wolf inhabits a really small portion of its former range because of widespread destruction of its territory, human encroachment, and the resulting human wolf encounters. The gray wolf is regarded as being of least concern for extinction. They are also illegally. hunted for sport in other areas. The wolves diet of large sized ungulates, and will usually eat any meat that that is available. The wolf will often sometimes eat garbage. Also in some areas such as Western Canada have been observed to eat salmon. The wolves will also only chase an animal for 20-200yd. Surprisingly, female wolves are better at chasing predators. Usually mating occurs between January and April-the higher the latitude the later it occurs. Most of the time a pack produces a single litter unless the breeding male mates with one or more females. A pup will usually grow to be 85 lbs, and can run up to 40 mph during a chase. What we can do to save them is to stop destroying their territory, and we can stop hunting them.