What Do You Know About Artic Wolves?

Wolves are one of the most misunderstood animals in all of the world and the Artic wolf is no exception. What do you know about artic wolves?

Artic wolves are rather a mystery because they live so isolated from most people. They can be found living on islands in the Artic and along the north coast of Greenland. That’s a long way from civilization leaving the artic wolf to be seen occasionally on our television screen and largely misunderstood.

The artic wolf lives in remote, harsh and extreme conditions that are frigid and dark for most of the year. Even scientists don’t venture their way very often, and there is no people that live that far north not even the Inuit. Thus little is actually known about this species.

There has been some research down through the short summer season and this has been very effective in learning about the behavior of these wolves, how they live, and how they travel.

Although part of the Canis lupus family the artic wolf is very distinctive from his family member the gray wolf. The artic wolf has pure white coat this is much thicker than that of the gray wolf. That’s because his coat must protect him from the harsh winter conditions of the Artic north. Unlike the gray wolf who has long legs and a long muzzle the Artic wolf has shorter legs and a bulky build with a short muzzle. On average an Artic wolf will weigh more than 100 pounds.

Like all wolves the Artic wolves hunt but their hunting range is huge covering 1000 square miles. They are not picky eaters and will eat whatever they are able to kill. This includes musk ox, voles, caribou, birds, walruses, musk oxen, and lemmings.

Much of the wolves prey is considerably larger than the wolf itself. This means they must carefully plan their attack on their prey and it usually means they work as a pack to corner that prey.

They are the only wolf species that is not becoming endangered. That’s because their remoteness means man is not a threat to them either by destroying their habitat or hunting them. They are very safe from man and chances are it will remain that way since it unlikely that the Artic will become heavily populated at any time now or in the future.

The Artic wolf lives to around the age of 10 in the wild. The female begins to court the male at about two years of age, but the males will begin courting as young as a year. The courting ritual is much like that of the dog with biting, licking, and playing.

Once the courting is over they will mate which usually begins in late March with the pups being born sometime during June. Before the pups are born the pack will busy themselves building a den so the mother has a place to give birth.

A litter consists of 5 to 9 pups and at about two weeks of age their eyes will begin to open. Initially they are fed by the mother and as they get ready to eat the pack digests and regurgitates food for the pups until they are able to digest food on their own.

Once the pup’s eyes are open they begin to get rambunctious and curios. Much like a dog the adults will discipline the pups by gently biting their necks.

The entire pack takes care of the pups until they are around eight weeks old when they are finally able to leave the den. This is when they begin to develop their hunting skills by catching bugs and small rodents.

The Artic wolves are a pack animal which means that they function as a unit hunting, living, and raising their young together. A pack can range anywhere from 7 wolves up to 25 wolves. The leader is the Alpha male and his mate the Alpha female. The Alpha male is fearless and the strongest of the pack. The rest of the pack takes their direction from the Alpha.

As the pups become young adults they begin to seek their own mate. Once a mate is found they generally go off and form another pack that consists of single males and females.

The Artic wolves are a fascinating animal that is seen as mysterious because so little is known about them. They are a magnificent creature to watch and one can only hope that their remoteness will leave them safe from the interference of man.

Deon Melchior is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit ArticleClick.com. Article Click is a free content article directory. This means that as a publisher you may reprint the articles that are included in our site, as long as the article is unedited and the author box is included with it's live hyperlinks.