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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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Credits to Yellowstone Wolf Family Tree.
BECHLER'S FIRST ALPHA MALE – THE ASTONISHING LIFE of WOLF 192Mg The wolf that would later become known as alpha male 192 began his life born into one of the most prosperous and beloved early packs of the Yellowstone wolf restoration, the Rose Creek Pack. That April, several females in the pack gave birth to an amazing number of pups – twenty-two! Our two-pound bundle of gray fur was born to the pack’s new black alpha female, wolf 18, and existing gray alpha male, wolf 8, and he was one of nine pups to survive the year. Our pup was born in a den on what has become a famous Yellowstone feature known as “Mom’s Ridge” – named for the famous Rose Creek black alpha female, wolf 9, who denned there first in 1996 and is the Mitochondrial Eve Wolf of the park and responsible for at least 70% of the genetic base of all Yellowstone wolves. Mom’s Ridge is a long, high escarpment located just west of Slough Creek in the Lower Lamar Valley area of Yellowstone National Park’s Northern Range. This lower river valley area is also nicknamed, “Little America.” There are several theories about the origin of the nickname, but the one I like to share is that, during the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration – the New Deal Era in which the United States was scraping its way out of the Great Depression – the country was dotted with Civil Conservation Corps (CCC) camps. These CCC camps provided jobs – fixing roads, bridges and trails across the country. One of those CCC camps was located in Lower Lamar Valley, and the camp was very ethnically diverse – much like the diverse Melting Pot of the United States during those early days of immigration – hence the origin of the nickname. For those of you who have hiked out to 9’s Den in Little America, this is the very same den wolf 9 dug out and used to give birth to her litter the very same month and year her grandson, our hero, was born. Sadly, the location chosen by wolf 9 was too far removed from the main pack activity to the north on Mom’s Ridge, and her attempt to move her pups north across the Northeast Roadway and Lamar River met with tragedy. Our pup was originally numbered as wolf 82 by the Yellowstone Wolf Project, in the days when every wolf was given an identification number – whether they had a radio collar or not. Two of his black-coated brothers and littermates were also given numbers that year – originally numbered wolf 79 would be radio-collared as wolf 193 and wolf 80 would be radio-collared as wolf 194 – and these three males would later disperse many miles from their natal (birth) pack and diversify the genetic base of the wolves of Yellowstone’s southern regions for the next decade and more. Young wolf 82 dispersed from his natal Rose Creek Pack as a yearling, and was radio-collared as wolf 192 in 1999 as a member of the Roosevelt Group. Years 2000 and 2001 of his life were spent as a lone wolf and occasional member of the Roosevelt Group and then the Tower Pack in the western landscapes of Little America. During this same time period his brothers and littermates, wolves 79/193 and 80/194, dispersed and eventually joined the Mollie’s Pack. Wolf 193 would become the long-time alpha male of the Mollie’s with wolf 194 as the beta male of the pack until he joined the famous Druid Peak wolf, U-Black, to form the Specimen Ridge Pack on the slopes beneath the Petrified Forest near his homeland in Little America. Then, in August 2002, our adventurous and much-traveled wolf 192 was discovered all the way down in the southwestern Bechler corner of the park – named Cascade Corner for all of its waterfalls – and was leading the newly identified Bechler Pack as alpha male! His leadership of this pack was “highlighted” even more by the “whitening” of his coat. You see, our wolf carried a genetic trait that turns certain gray-coated wolves’ fur white as they age. This trait has appeared in a handful of females over the 23-year history of wolves restored to Yellowstone, but wolf 192, the hero of this story, is the only known male to display this trait. The Bechler is one the most remote areas of the park, and only the hardiest of wolves, our lone whitening male with his years of experience traveling through the vastness and tempests of Yellowstone amid myriad other packs, could coalesce and lead a group of wolves for in an area of the park that receives the deepest snows each winter – as much as over 600 inches! For an amazing eight years, he reigned as alpha of the Bechler Pack and fathered many litters of pups until he died of natural causes on June 3, 2009, He lived to be twelve-years-and-two-months-old, making him one of the oldest known wild wolves in Yellowstone National Park. A testament to the astonishing life of wolf 192 is also evidenced in the book, “Wild Wolves We Have Known,” where Doug Smith, Rick McIntyre and Dan Stahler write about their more memorable wolves. Of the many choices Dan could have selected over his many years of experience with the Yellowstone Wolf Project, he chose to write his section on wolf 192. Because of the remoteness of the Bechler Pack, little is known of their exploits over the years, and so there isn’t much to share about their adventures through the seasons. But if our white wolf is any example, this surely must be a most remarkable pack! This story came together in part through researching the Yellowstone Wolf Family Tree. You can find out more about wolf 192 and the other amazing wolves of Yellowstone National Park by becoming a guest of the Yellowstone Wolf Family Tree. Visit http://www.wolfgenes.info , select the Ancestry tab and follow the Invitation section instructions to become a guest of the tree. (Photo of wolf 192 and his long-time alpha mate in the deep snows of the Bechler Area and with his packmates courtesy of NPS.) Leo Leckie Yellowstone Wolf Storyteller  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
 In the Negev Desert of Israel, in 1994, Vladimir Dinets - a tracker and zoologist - discovered tracks of a striped hyena, Hyaena hyaena, overlapping with those of either Arabian (Canis lupus arabs) or Indian (C. l. pallipes) wolves, both of which are subspecies of the grey wolf. *This image is copyright of its original author The Indian wolf, which may have been the subspecies in question Further examination of the tracks indicated that the three wolves and the hyena were walking together, at the same time. This discovery was hugely surprising for Dinets, but his zoological colleagues - who knew little about conventional tracking - were unconvinced. Four years later, in the same area as that of the tracks, the Israeli zoologist Benjamin Eligulashvili observed a pack of seven wolves traveling with a single striped hyena, who was right in the middle of the group. These discoveries indicate that the two species cooperate in order to hunt. this is considered as one of the type of symbiotic association or inter specific relationship or interaction for the mutual benefits and survival of both species in unforgiving harsh environment. these wolves were also observed hunting and sharing meat with hyena peacefully and not with much violence. wolves were also observed as facultative omnivores by eating grapes (mainly for water needs) in nocturnal period by raiding on protected negev desert park surrounding fields or farms. episode was telecasted in sony bbc earth. feel alive lol. *This image is copyright of its original author The striped hyena, Hyaena hyaena Thinking about it further, it makes sense. The Negev Desert is an extremely hostile and arid environment, and the two species have their respective strengths - the striped hyenas have a superior sense of smell and bite force, while the wolves are better at hunting and tracking down large prey. In this case, the wolves and hyenas depend on each other in order to survive and reproduce better than their non-cooperative counterparts, but they’re not interdependent to the degree that they couldn’t survive without each other. https://qr.ae/TUtAKa http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160324-...ith-wolves  (12-07-2018, 06:15 PM)Sanju Wrote:Nice article! This is something unusual, one animal benifitting from the presence of another animal has certainly happened eg artic fox following polar bear, brown bears benefiting from wolf packs and even Ethiopian wolf hunting in presence of troops of jelada baboons. While this is all the more interesting, similar kind of animal, possibly similar prey. A nice photo would have been great. imagine a scenario where a pack of arabian wolf teeming with a striped hyena to take on a large antelope!  (12-07-2018, 06:15 PM)Sanju Wrote: Interesting videos Sanju. These smallish tropical wolves, more especially Arabian wolves look a bit funny in comparison with their large and mighty relatives from the northern latitudes, something like "under-wolves" . Basically they have almost the size of Canadian coyotes....  , average weight of male Arab is ar. 20 kg, while female could be even 16 kg... Since I'm from Europe for me "wolf" mean a big, powerful, long-haired apex predator hunting in the snowy landscapes. Since tropical wolves evolved and existed for long time in the surrounding of gigantic super-predators as lions and tigers their size was probably additionally pressed down by the big cats.
Here is footage near a place, where wolves were seen to chase a deer last winter. From woods in south-western Finland.
(01-01-2019, 02:44 AM)Wolverine Wrote:(12-31-2018, 02:55 PM)Shadow Wrote: Here is footage near a place, where wolves were seen to chase a deer last winter. From woods in south-western Finland. Good question, I have to check a little bit. Some are quite big what comes to wolves overall. (01-01-2019, 02:44 AM)Wolverine Wrote:(12-31-2018, 02:55 PM)Shadow Wrote: Here is footage near a place, where wolves were seen to chase a deer last winter. From woods in south-western Finland. Here is what officials tell, I try to find more accurate information about averages. http://www.largecarnivores.fi/species/wolf.html
At this point I found some sites giving to wolves in Finland female average weightto be 32-35 kg (70,5-77 lbs) and to males 40 kg (88 lbs), but I couldn´t find to what that information is based. I will look closer with better time.
(01-01-2019, 03:41 AM)Shadow Wrote: At this point I found some sites giving to wolves in Finland female average weightto be 32-35 kg (70,5-77 lbs) and to males 40 kg (88 lbs), but I couldn´t find to what that information is based. I will look closer with better time. According to this source the average height of Scandinavian male wolf is 45 kg: https://www.wildsweden.com/about/facts-about-wolves/ I think this is the most precise data, since the males from South Europe are bit smaller than those from Northern Europe and their average is 40 kg. So comparison of different subspecies should be: 1. Arabian wolf (the smallest) - average male - 20,41 kg 2. Indian wolf - average 25 to 28 kg 2. Wolves from Southern Europe - 38-40 kg 3. Northern Europe - 45 kg 4. West Canadian and Yellowstone wolves - 51 kg I'm originally from South-East Europe (Bulgaria) when I came to Canada noticed that Canadian wolves are significantly larger, exactly their paws when I saw their traces in the snowy Rocky mountains was shocked ... huge beasts... Also there are some differences in the coloration between European and North American wolves. While in the majority of Europe wolves are brown or brownish North American wolves are often black, grey or white, few of them are really brownish. Term "grey wolf" actually comes from America and its not very suitable for European wolves. Of course all polar wolves are white. For example such coloration is hard to be found in Europe and is typical for Western Canada:  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author While typical European wolf look like this:  *This image is copyright of its original author Happy New Year by the way! (01-01-2019, 04:38 AM)Wolverine Wrote:(01-01-2019, 03:41 AM)Shadow Wrote: At this point I found some sites giving to wolves in Finland female average weightto be 32-35 kg (70,5-77 lbs) and to males 40 kg (88 lbs), but I couldn´t find to what that information is based. I will look closer with better time. That 45 kg for males can be quite ok, I am not sure how accurate statistics there are. For instance Swedish site gives size range 35-55 kg and here in Finland have been bigger, I remember one shot wolf, which was told to be 65 kg and bigger have been observed as far as I know. We have that situation, that some packs come and go between Russia and Finland too. And even though we have big forests all over Finland, naturally in Russia there is so much more space for these animals.  |
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