Expressive characteristics of visual features
used during social interactions in wolves Feature Aggressive Fearful Eyes Direct stare Open wide Looking away Closed to slits Ears Erect and forward Flattened and turned down to side Lips Horizontal contraction ("agonistic pucker") Horizontal retraction ("submissive grin") Mouth Opened Closed Teeth Canines bared Canines covered Tongue Retracted Extended ("lick intention") Nose Shortened (skin folded) Lengthened (skin smoothed) Forehead Contracted (bulging over eyes) Stretched (smoothed) Head Held high Lowered Neck Arched Extended Hair Erect (bristled) Sleeked Body Erect, tall Crouched, low Tail Held high Quivering Tucked under body Wagging SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_wolf
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SOURCE: http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2015/01/42-amazing-truths-about-wolves-everyone.html
WHITEWOLFPACK Some things your children will want to know about wolves and won't be afraid to ask 1. Are wolves dangerous to people? Wild wolves avoid people. The myths about wolves attacking and eating people are distortions of the truth about the elusive nature of wolves. In places where wolves are protected, they may become less fearful of humans. They should, therefore, be treated like any wild animal - with respect. 2. Why are people afraid of wolves? It’s easy to put all the blame on children’s stories and fairy tales. But that is over-simplifying it. Wolves, with their big teeth and close-set golden eyes, can look scary, especially when illustrators exaggerate those features. Also, wolves live in packs. People associate “packs” with “gangs.” The howl of the wolf is haunting, too. 3. What is a predator? Any animal that hunts and kills another animal for food. Prey is the term used for the animal that is hunted. 4. What is a top predator? Any animal that has no natural enemies within its food web and is not hunted by other animals. The wolf is a top predator. 5. Why do wolves kill other animals? They have to. They are carnivores. They prey primarily on large hoofed mammals called ungulates. These include deer, elk, bison, moose, caribou and musk oxen. Secondary food sources are hares and beaver. Red wolves eat nutria, feral pigs and small mammals such as squirrels. Occasionally, they will kill birds. 6. How much do wolves eat? A wolf can survive on 2 ½ pounds of food a day. They need about 5 pounds a day to reproduce. 7. Is it hard for wolves to kill a large animal? Yes, very. They get kicked and trampled. Even small deer are dangerous with their sharp hoofs. Wild wolves are injured often by prey animals. 8. Do wolves always kill the old, weak and sick animals? Usually, they do. They also kill young animals if they can separate them from their mothers. This is because getting food is risky at best. Wolves try to select the animal that is least likely to get away and least likely to cause them injury. Even so, they are not successful much of the time. The odds are in favor of the prey animal. 9. Are wolves born knowing how to hunt? Certainly there is the basic instinct to hunt. Wolves raised in captivity for release into the wild (red wolves and Mexican wolves) have learned to hunt. But wolves born in the wild are almost certainly taught by their parents to hunt. Many biologists believe the young learn by observation and by trial and error. 10. How long can a wolf go without eating? Days, weeks even. Sometimes they have no choice if food is scarce or unavailable. 11. How much can a wolf eat at one time? A wolf can consume as much as 22.5 pounds of food at a time. Life is often feast and famine. 12. Why do some people hate wolves? Fear, for one thing. Competition for resources is another. For instance, if the wolf’s natural prey is eliminated and replaced by livestock, wolves will kill sheep and cattle in order to eat. Also, some people don't like animals that kill other animals. Most of this particular brand of hatred seems to have been directed at wolves, however. Mountain lions and bears, for example, kill other animals, too. Many small predators do, also. But people don’t generally hate bears, for instance. Why not? Good question. Suggestion: Compare the illustrations in children’s stories. How is the wolf generally depicted? What about the bear? 13. Are wolves dangerous to domestic dogs? Yes, usually wolves will attack dogs if they can. Wild wolves generally don’t like dogs or any other canids, for that matter. It’s a territorial thing. Wolves will often try to keep coyotes and foxes away from a kill. Wolves in captivity often do not like dogs, either. Yes, there are wolf/dog hybrids. But wolves under natural conditions in the wild generally will not breed with dogs. 14. A horse and a donkey can breed and produce a mule. But mules are not fertile. Can wolf/dog hybrids produce puppies? Yes, they can. So can wolf/coyote hybrids. 15. Hunters claim that too many wolves will wipe out the big game animals such as deer and elk in an area. Will they? Predators do not wipe out their food source. That would be self-destructive. Fewer prey animals generally mean fewer wolves. Less food often means smaller litters of puppies and bigger territories for the wolf packs. Many factors besides the number of predators influence the prey populations. Weather is one, for instance. The elimination of wolves from their original ranges has, in some areas, resulted in the unchecked growth of prey populations. With no top predator in Yellowstone National Park, for instance, the elk population rose to unprecedented numbers. Much of the vegetation, such as willows and aspen, was nearly wiped out. Small predators became scarce as the coyote population grew. Much about the population dynamics of animals and the critical role of predators at the top of the food web has been learned since the wolf returned in 1995 to Yellowstone. Source: How Wolves Can Alter the Course of Rivers by SustainableMan on Rumble 16. Do wolves ever kill other wolves? Yes. They will defend their territories, often fiercely when food is scarce. They may harass and/or kill other wolves that trespass. This is not because wolves are mean, but because they have to defend their food supply, especially if is limited. Wolves avoid unnecessary conflict, however. Energy is conserved for the hard job of hunting for themselves and for the pups. 17. Do wolves ever kill members of their own pack? Yes, sometimes they do. It may be a younger wolf challenging an older alpha. Sometimes wolves will drive a member of their own pack out. This may be competition as well. Generally, however, a wolf pack is a highly cooperative family unit with a hierarchy that is reinforced constantly. 18. Do wolves ever kill more than they can eat at one time? Yes, they do, especially if a lot of food is available. They may return several times to a kill to eat, and they often cache food for times when prey are scarce. Feeding growing pups means a lot food is essential. A wolf kill also feeds coyotes, foxes, golden eagles, bald eagles, magpies, ravens, small predators and scavengers, carrion beetles and the surrounding vegetation that is nourished by decaying flesh and bones. 19. How big are wolves? Not as big as most people think. Wild wolves are usually much thinner than the “calendar” wolves which are, most often, captive wolves. Gray wolves vary somewhat in size depending on where they live. Male wolves in Minnesota weigh between 70 and 110 pounds. Females weigh 10 to 15 pounds less. Wolves in the northern Rockies and in Canada and Alaska are larger. Adult males may weigh as much as 115 pounds and sometimes more. Some reach 130 pounds. Females are somewhat lighter than males. Red wolves are smaller than gray wolves. Abundant fur in winter can give wolves the appearance of being much heavier than they are. 20. What is a wolf pack? A family - mother, father and puppies. Often, pups from the previous year’s litter that have lived through the first winter remain with the parents before they leave to form families of their own. Siblings may remain with the pack for two or more years. The adult parents are usually not related. 21. How many wolves are in a pack? It varies. Sometimes there are just two, a male and a female. Usually the pack consists of the breeding pair and their offspring of the present year. Often, pups from the previous year’s litter will remain with the parents. Sometimes, older siblings will not disperse but will stay with the natal pack for 2 or 3 years. The size of a wolf pack varies greatly and is regulated by the amount of food available, pup survival, dispersal and mortality due to disease, injury and human causes. 22. Wouldn’t it be best for wolves to live in large packs so they could kill more prey? Not necessarily. The more wolves, the more food needed! Also, evidence indicates that most of the killing is done by the breeding pair with the younger wolves participating as part of their own learning process. 23. How many puppies do wolves have? Sometimes 1 or 2, usually 4 to 6, occasionally more. Again, the size of the litter may depend, among other things, on the amount of food available. 24. How much does a newborn wolf weigh? About a pound. 25. Does only the mother take care of the pups? No. A wolf pack is not matriarchal the way a lion pride is, for example. All members of the pack care for the puppies, babysitting and regurgitating food for them once they are weaned. 26. Is regurgitated food like “throw-up?” This is a good question and one most people don’t have the nerve to ask! The answer is no, not really. If you have to bring food back miles and miles to the growing puppies, what is the most efficient way of carrying it? In your mouth? No, definitely not. The stomach is the grocery cart. The food may be partially digested, however, since food in a wolf’s stomach breaks down very fast. Also, pups being weaned need partially digested meat. Wolves seem to be able to regurgitate at will. One “load” of dinner may be regurgitated in several “helpings” for the pups. 27. Does the alpha male kill the pups if he can? No. The alpha male and the other members of the wolf family take care of the mother while she is confined to the den nursing the pups. They bring her food and stay by the den when she needs to venture outside to drink water. If there are no other wolves in the pack except the breeding pair, a mother wolf would have a very difficult time raising the pups alone without the help of her mate. When the pups emerge from the den, the father and the older siblings help to raise the pups. They play with them and bring them food and bones and pieces of hide to play with. Play is important. It increases strength and reinforces survival behavior. 28. Does the father go into the den? No, not usually. Some biologists claim to have observed this behavior. Others have not. 29. How long do pups stay with the pack? Most stay a year at least. They need to mature, and yearlings are still learning from their parents how to catch and kill prey. Some leave home, or disperse, between their first and second year. Others stay well into their second year before leaving. Occasionally a wolf will stay with the natal pack for 3 or 4 years or even longer, but this seems to be the exception. 30. Why do wolves leave the pack? Why do human children leave home? To be independent, to find a mate and raise a family of their own! 31. Do dispersers ever come back and visit the pack? Sometimes. At least, biologists think so. An “outsider” who is accepted into a pack may be a returning offspring. 32. Do wolves allow outsiders to join the pack? Sometimes they do. The outsider may be a youngster returning to the natal pack. Sometimes a new breeder will join the pack if the alpha male or female dies. 33. Is there ever more than one litter of pups in a pack? The answer used to be no. That has been modified, at least from some observations in Yellowstone and other areas as well. There are now confirmed data of some packs with more than one breeding female, but this seems to be the exception. The pack must be able to feed the pups, keep them safe, maintain their health and vigor and teach them to hunt. In the pack hierarchy, there is a dominant female and a dominant male traditionally referred to as the alpha female and the alpha male. These wolves are the pack leaders. 34. Are wolves in the same litter always the same color? No. Wolves in a pack are not always the same color. Sometimes a wolf pack will have white wolves, gray wolves and black wolves! 35. Why do wolves howl at the moon? They don’t. They often howl before they go out hunting, they howl to announce their presence to strangers and to warn them away, they howl to locate one another and sometimes they howl for no apparent reason. Maybe it just feels good. 36. If humans howl, will wolves answer? Yes, often they will. 37. Do wolves bark like dogs? Sort of. They give a short huffing bark to warn the pups or others in the pack of danger. When wolves are alarmed or stressed, they will “bark/howl.” 38. How long does a wolf live? In the wild, not much longer than 7 years - that is, if they manage to survive their first winter. An average of 60 percent of wolf pups die before they are a year old. Wolves get kicked by their prey, they succumb to parasites, they die of starvation or they may be killed by other wolves. In captivity, wolves can live to be 15 or even older - just like dogs. 39. How fast can a wolf run? How far do they travel? Wolves are long-distance travelers. They may travel 10 to 30 miles in one day to hunt. They often maintain a steady trot, averaging about 5 miles an hour. When chasing prey, they can sprint at 25 to 35 miles an hour. Wolves leaving the pack and dispersing in search of mates have been known to travel huge distances, sometimes over 500 miles from their home territories. 40. How strong are a wolf’s jaws? The wolf’s jaws can crush big bones with a biting capacity of 1,500 pounds per square inch. Compare that to a big dog. A German shepherd dog’s biting capacity is about 750 pounds per square inch. What about a human’s biting capacity? About 300 pounds per square inch! 39. Should I consider a wolf as a pet? Can they be domesticated? Wolves should not be kept as pets. They can be socialized but not domesticated. They cannot be dominated or taught to accept a human’s will the way a dog can. In many states, it is illegal to own a wolf without obtaining a special permit. It is, therefore, illegal for a veterinarian to give routine vaccinations to a wolf. Best guideline: If you want a wolf, get a dog. 41. What about hybrids? There are ads everywhere. The hybrid issue is very controversial. Some hybrids make successful pets. Many do not. They key is to consider the question: What do you get when you combine a shy predator with an aggressive animal like a dog? Most dogs are, at least to some degree, either protective or aggressive. Buying a hybrid is risky. Many people buy them because they think they will be acquiring a good guard animal. Sadly, however, many hybrids wind up in shelters where they are euthanized. 42. Where can I go to see a wolf? Wolves in the wild are elusive. While you can often hear them howl in “wolf country,” seeing them is rare and often only for a fleeting moment. The exception is Yellowstone National Park. Many visitors have been thrilled by viewing three of the packs that live in the Lamar Valley. How many different ways and how many times can they try to water down what’s left of the Endangered Species Act (ESA)? How can we the people allow them to do it? What will it take for people to wake up and realize what is at stake? When will enough be enough?The ESA is ALL that stands between COUNTLESS wild animals & their habitats and their destruction including unfortunately extinction!
Think about it… How many different ways and how many times can they try to water down what’s left of the Endangered Species Act (ESA)? How can we the people allow them to do it? What will it take for people to wake up and realize what is at stake? When will enough be enough? It’s time to stand up for the ESA like never before! Without that in place and NOT adapted or overwritten, we will lose much much more! What will the ramifications be to the endangered species act from the share act 2406? ATTENTION USFWS: what we want: No more collaring wolves, no more gassing wolf dens especially with pups within, no more aerial hunting wolves, no more trapping of any animals, no more denning wolves or using a Judas wolf to hunt wolves, no more using hounds to hunt predators, no more negatively exploiting wolves, maintain, re-establish or create buffer zone in parks, use of PROVEN COST EFFECTIVE NON LETHAL methods to control predators as opposed to lethal methods, the cessation of the destruction of wild life habitats, more justice for wildlife crime and better follow through instead of turning your backs on it, and Dan Ashe removed from office – just to name a few things! If you value wildlife, then join our fight against the corrupt people and agencies trying to strip them of their protection again! Besides, why would we want anybody who is against wildlife rights to be in office of an agency that is responsible for their well-being anyway? ATTENTION TO OUR CORRUPT GOVERNMENT: It is not acceptable that our wildlife is always the first to suffer or be blamed because of human errors or failures, whether intentionally done or by accident and it’s time to stand up and fight for our wildlife so they can live as they were meant to, in peace with itself! Instead of blaming wildlife or attacking wildlife, we should be blaming ourselves for letting our wildlife down and leaving it to suffer because of our own stupidity All you are doing is opening the door for more illegal trapping and hunting of wolves, among other atrocities! What makes it even worse is you also sponsor some devastating events as well, as if OUR wildlife is your plaything! Have you ever put yourself on the other end of the barrel and thought about just how wrong your lack of justice really has become? What happened to the USFWS that actually cared about animals in dire need! I can answer that, greed, personal agendas, self-image, just to name a few things that happened! The ESA is ALL that stands between COUNTLESS wild animals & their habitats and their destruction including unfortunately extinction! Think about it… A true story from Alaska, one for the ages. I am reloading to break the news - Romeo has possibly found a mate. Since I do not have many subs, I am counting on you all to rate, comment and SHARE, to spread the word about Romeo. I plan to delete the prior movie since the video counter is locked. Please add this one to your favorites, if you favorited the old one. IF YOU EMBED THIS MOVIE PLEASE DO NOT SET IT ON AUTOPLAY!!!! since apparently it causes YT problems counting views.
== The Legend of Romeo, the Lonely Wolf, has spread around the world. I filmed these video clips on 3/15/09, at Romeo's place here in Alaska. I am deeply indebted to youtube user Prophiscient, who was able to rescue my badly damaged close-up clip of Romeo running. He was able to determine a problem existed with the frame order, something way over my head, and devised a special avisynth script to cure the problem. He is the best of the best, and this video would look lousy without his expert help, which he so freely and generously gave to me. Mr. P if you ever come to Alaska, I will make sure you have the time of your life... As far as I am concerned, this movie is copyright 2009 by floydstinkyboy under the creative commons 3.0 attribution - noncommercial - share and share alike license. The ideas and information for my script are culled, paraphrased and edited by me from my own personal observations of Romeo, and from several internet news resources, as listed below. The still photographs of Romeo with The Pug, and Romeo against a spruce backdrop, are in the public domain (according to my research the owner wishes to remain anonymous and has allowed them to be posted widely on the internet). == == yahoo news, story by Steve Quinn, associated press: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/200... NPR news story: http://www.npr.org/blogs/bryantpark/2... EXCLLENT Local Blog from someone I have never met, with the Pug pix: http://arcticglass.blogspot.com/2007/... U.S. Forest Service Romeo page:http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/dist... SOURCE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI0wlnnLFiI This is an AWESOME documentary about a 1 of a kind wolf! Another excellent point to be made: Tell me what is wrong with this picture Wolves are vital to our ecology as well as our environment. How many countless other wild animals would not survive if not for wolves? Wolves are opportunistic and born to hunt! They also initiate the food chain for countless other species including but not limited to carnivores and scavengers alike! Without this cornerstone species, so many other species would slowly go extinct because they would either starve or quite possibly could become prey themselves to the same prey of wolves! It’s a circle! They are in essential - the law of nature in action! Don't believe that? Watch the short video – How Wolves Change Rivers! While unlike wolves Canadian geese are another story in themselves. What good do they do the environment? What good do they provide to our ecology? Do other animals depend on them for anything? Yes they are a beautiful sentient being, but just what good comes with them? They tend to get in the way all the time, can be just as bold as a coyote when it comes to interacting with humans, poop all over the place (SEE NOTE BELOW), they are known to interfere with aircraft navigation – flocks getting sucked into engines, and can frighten other animals, pets and children as well. Yet, they are protected - (not to say that’s a bad thing)! Yet wolves with as important of a cornerstone species as they are for so many reasons are hated beyond compare and hunted/trapped (harassed) for no real viable reason! NOTE: Geese feces usually contain the parasites cryptosporidium, giardia, coliform, and campylobacter. Cryptosporidium poses the most serious health hazard, since it causes cryptosporidiosis, an illness with the following symptoms: • Watery diarrhea • Dehydration • Weight loss • Stomach cramps or pain • Fever • Nausea • Vomiting Granted wolf's feces (SCAT) can also be loaded with various bacteria and diseases of a serious nature! The worst of these diseases is: Echinococcus granulosus (also called the hydatid worm - tapeworm) SOURCES: https://idfg.idaho.gov/wildlife/disease/echinococcus-granulosus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinococcus_granulosus Wolves are susceptible to more than one hundred diseases and parasites, including roundworm, tape worm, flatworm, mange, mites, ticks, fleas, distemper, cataracts, oral papillomatosis, tularemia, bovine tuberculosis, arthritis, cancer, rickets, pnumonia, Lyme disease, and many other ailments. SOURCE: http://www.wolfcountry.net/information/WolfInjuries.html http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/echinococcosis/biology.html
Echinococcus granulosus, also called the hydatid worm (tapeworm) Here is some early background info about Guardian M1396 which I believe has a lot to do with a weakened ESA as well as EPA
I have some info in regards to Guardian M1396 - although this is obviously after-the-fact, the purpose is I have been breaking down attacks on the ESA - the most VITAL piece of protection for wildlife - and it is in serious jeopardy! I believe this was just the start of more to come, including the PPP! I think the ESA is the heart of it all, including over seas and I also believe if the same doesn't exist in Norway etc - then we should look into this further! Please note: the same exact argument can be made regarding WAG wolf management plan protocols! NOTE - this info comes from DOW - which I no longer support. SEE LINKS BELOW This is the info in question - as you can see, wolves never really had a chance: Inside sources indicate that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has decided to trap an endangered Mexican gray wolf living in the wild in New Mexico and put him in a pen, likely forever, as soon as his mate gives birth to their first litter of pups together. She could whelp any day now, and trapping would immediately be underway. Those pups may only know their father for a few days or weeks before he disappears. Notwithstanding human efforts to support the wolf mom and keep the pups alive, they will have a lower chance of survival without their dad. The Fish and Wildlife Service refuses to release its written decision. With Mexican wolf numbers in decline, the Fish and Wildlife Service should be releasing captive wolves into the wild as recommended by scientists, not taking them out contrary to scientific guidelines. Please call the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Secretary of the Interior and insist that the wolf-removal order be rescinded and that the father of this wolf family be allowed to stay in the wild. (The wolf’s official identity is M1396.) Sherry Barrett, Fish and Wildlife Service Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator: 505-761-4748 Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Interior: 202- 208-7351 If you are in New Mexico, please also call your two U.S. Senators, Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, and request that they intervene with the Interior Department to stop this wolf trapping operation: 202-224-3121 (Capitol switchboard). BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The wolf pair is living in the Gila National Forest. The targeted male wolf, given the name “Guardian” in a children’s pup-naming contest after his birth two years ago, comes from the Fox Mountain Pack – a wolf family that has endured repeated government persecution. Last year, Guardian’s brother was trapped by the government, and two years before their birth, the alpha female of the pack was trapped too; she never saw her family again and died in captivity after years of forlorn pacing of the fence that kept her from freedom. Guardian is to be removed for killing cattle. But, while livestock owners are compensated for livestock lost to wolves, and offered financial and logistical assistance with depredation avoidance measures, there is no corresponding requirement for livestock owners to take measures to protect their cattle from depredations, or to remove livestock carcasses on public lands that can be scavenged by wolves, which is known to habituate wolves to prey on stock. This may have happened in this case, as the carcasses of two cows that died from calving complications were found in this area in February. Last year, Mexican wolf numbers in Arizona and New Mexico decreased by 12% from 110 to 97 animals. There were only six breeding pairs. Three wolves have already died this year, including two accidentally killed by government managers in the course of trapping. Fish and Wildlife Service routinely announces that it intends to release wolves from the captive breeding population but in deference to livestock industry opposition, rarely actually does so. Only four captive-bred wolves have been released during the entire Obama presidency; three are dead, including one killed by the government, and the fourth was trapped and placed back in captivity. For more information, email [email protected] Here is some more information in question! http://wdfw.wa.gov/about/advisory/wag/WAGWolfManagementUpdates.pdf http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/gray_wolf/livestock/LethalRemovalProtocolGrayWolvesWashingtonDuringRecovery_05312016.pdf How Wolves Change Rivers
Sustainable HumanYoutube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYv_csqWJTSfQK3vOZDJKQw |
AuthorDouglas W. Lopes Archives
March 2017
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