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Terrestrial Wild Animals
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Carnivorous and Omnivores Animals, Excluding Felids
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Canids (Canidae) & Hyaenids (Hyaenidae)
Wolf (Canis lupus)
Wolf (Canis lupus)
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Wolf (Canis lupus)
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"Gray pelt wolves were found more often in areas with higher road densities than black wolves. As predicted, black, but not gray, wolves were positively associated with forest cover. "
 *This image is copyright of its original author I'm fairly sceptical about any explanatory power this has but interesting nonetheless Carnivores in color: pelt color patterns among carnivores in Idaho
Exploring durophagy among modern gray wolves from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem with dental microwear texture analysis
Abstract Gray wolf (Canis lupus) dietary behavior can be highly variable; prey species for wolves span a range of ungulates to the consumption of smaller animals. While prey species for wolves are well documented, carcass utilization within and between wolf populations is less understood. This paper examines a modern population of wolves from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) with dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) to gauge utilization of bone resources, or durophagy, across biological, physical, social, geographical, and temporal variables. Results indicate gradation in durophagous behavior among GYE wolves does not correlate with sex, intra-population body size (as inferred from skeletal and soft tissue measurements), pack association, or age class. Together, findings suggest that feeding ecologies for wolves are not specific to these factors. We also found that antemortem tooth breakage rates are not positively correlated with dental microwear textures that infer durophagy. We further compare dental microwear measures with previously published data from Alaskan wolves, who were collected decades before the GYE wolf sample. Results imply elevated carcass exploitation in the contemporary GYE wolf population sample. If minimal inter-population differences are assumed, data presented here show dietary behaviors of North American gray wolves have changed over the past fifty years, indicating a possible long-term trend that may be linked to decreased winter severity and climate change. 
Wolves infected with a parasite that increases risk taking makes them 46x more likely to become pack leaders
Parasitic infection increases risk-taking in a social, intermediate host carnivore Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite capable of infecting any warm-blooded species and can increase risk-taking in intermediate hosts. Despite extensive laboratory research on the effects of T. gondii infection on behaviour, little is understood about the effects of toxoplasmosis on wild intermediate host behavior. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA, has a diverse carnivore community including gray wolves (Canis lupus) and cougars (Puma concolor), intermediate and definitive hosts of T. gondii, respectively. Here, we used 26 years of wolf behavioural, spatial, and serological data to show that wolf territory overlap with areas of high cougar density was an important predictor of infection. In addition, seropositive wolves were more likely to make high-risk decisions such as dispersing and becoming a pack leader, both factors critical to individual fitness and wolf vital rates. Due to the social hierarchy within a wolf pack, we hypothesize that the behavioural effects of toxoplasmosis may create a feedback loop that increases spatial overlap and disease transmission between wolves and cougars. These findings demonstrate that parasites have important implications for intermediate hosts, beyond acute infections, through behavioural impacts. Particularly in a social species, these impacts can surge beyond individuals to affect groups, populations, and even ecosystem processes.
Are there fully white wolves in Eurasia ?
When I read about wolves, I always see that fully white wolves are only present in the North America (Canada, Greenland and Alaska) and that in general American wolves display a bigger variety of colors than their Eurasian counterparts. There is however an old documentary about Russian/Soviet animals where you can see several fully white specimens as well as some others which are fully black which I did find odd ( link below the segment about wolves start at around 42:30). It’s an old documentary (prior to 2002 I think). Photos and videos of wolves in the Eurasian arctic are rare except for individuals kept in zoos, so I was wondering is there indeed fully white wolves in Northern Eurasia or did this documentary use footage (like stock footage) from various places? Thank you in advance for your answers. Link to the documentary in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZIupsoqcd8 (it's a part of a serie)  (08-30-2024, 11:01 PM)ashurGiga Wrote: Are there fully white wolves in Eurasia ? Giga Welcome to the forum! And thanks for the link to the old documentary. It's a nice one. My guess is it was first broadcasted well before the turn of the century. As to the question. Wildfact doesn't have a lot of members interested in wolves. Those we had, most unfortunately, left after a few years. As far as I can see, it doesn't seem to be very different in other forums. The best books about wolves I read were 'Of wolves and men' (Lopez, 1978), 'Säugetiere der Sowjetunion' (Heptner and Sludskij, German translation, 1980), 'Following the pack' (Link and Crawley, 1994), 'Wolves - Behavior, ecology, and conservation' (Mech and Buitani, 2003) and 'De wolf' (Okarma, 1997 - the Dutch translation was published in 2000). The best documentary (not about wolves in particular) I saw was 'El hombre y la tierra' (De la Fuente). Every now and then, the BBC broadcasts documentaries about wolves in Alaska, Canada and the USA. What I read, suggest white wolves are all but unheard of in Europe and the northwestern part of the Russian Federation. The only regions where they've been seen and filmed are North America (Alaska, Canada and the northern part of the USA) and some districts in the central and far eastern part of the Russian Federation. In all regions I referred to, long and harsh winters with a lot of snow are common. The stuffed Iberian wolves I saw in the natural history museum of Madrid fitted the colours of the region where they live (central and northern Portugal, the northwestern and central part of Spain, and a few districts in the south). Although they have a bit of white here and there, they're quite colourful. The groundcolour is darkish brown, mixed with spots of yellowish brown and a bit of grey. They also were larger than I expected. Males apparently can reach 45-50 kg. Wolves have recolonized The Netherlands. The wolves I saw (referring to photographs, videos and a very recent documentary) range between greyish and dull brown. Colourwise, they seem to be more uniform than their relatives in Iberia. Most wolves in the Netherlands are from Germany and central parts of Europe, but it could be some reached northwestern Europe from the south. The photographs and videos suggests they're quite large. Over here, wolves turn to sheep every now and then. Some people walking their dog in forested districts have seen wolves and one child was bitten by a wolf. The injury, however, wasn't serious. Wolf biologists think the individuals involved might have displayed territorial behaviour (wolves breed in a number of provinces). As a result, public discussions about eliminating 'problem' individuals started a number of years ago (referring to Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands). Farmers, as far as I know, do not use dogs to protect sheep. In the Baltic, Turkey and a number of former Sovjet republics in central Asia, conflicts between wolves and humans seem to be quite common. Every year, in central parts of Asia in particular, people are killed by wolves. Until quite recently, it wasn't very different in northern India. In North America, on the other hand, few people have been attacked. Reliable information, however, suggest the relationship between humans and wolves, to a degree, has changed. |
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