Wolves how do they live

Consumption of vegetation by elk is thus restrained, giving many riparian areas a chance to recover. ASPENS , willows, cottonwoods, and other vegetation have in many places resumed their natural growth.

When their favorite food and building material reappeared, beavers flourished, engineering broad wetlands that attract frogs, swans, and sandhill cranes. Stream banks once picked clear of vegetation and eroded by hooves erupted in wildflowers, which nourished insects, which in turn fed songbirds that nested among the thick willows. The water below now became shaded, deep, cool, and clear—a better habitat for aquatic-born insects and trout.

Many coyotes were killed or driven away by wolves, helping to bring about a resurgence in pronghorn. A drop in coyotes leaves more gophers, and other rodents for foxes, raptors, and other mid-level carnivores. WOLVES , now returned to their original habitat, play a vital role in keeping the world of predator and prey in balance. Wolves cull sick, old and genetically inferior elk and deer, allowing the healthiest individuals to breed and perpetuate their species.

The remains of a carcass left behind, unfinished by wolves, help feed grizzly bears, bald eagles, wolverines and many other scavengers.

Wolves have redistributed the elk herds, allowing vegetation to recover along rivers and streams. More willows and aspens provide food for beavers. More beaver ponds benefit aquatic plants and animals. Shade from the trees cools the water, making the habitat better for trout. Wolves kill coyotes, so rodent populations increase, benefiting struggling birds of prey.

Also, with fewer coyotes, pronghorn antelope calves are less likely to be preyed upon. The job of maintaining order and cohesion falls largely to the alphas, also known as the breeding pair. Typically, there is only one breeding pair in a pack. They, especially the alpha female the mother of the pack , are the glue keeping the pack together.

The loss of a parent can have a devastating impact on social group cohesion. After the alphas, wolves second in command are called the betas, followed by mid-ranking wolves, and finally the omegas. Both mid- and low-ranking positions are somewhat fluid. Although an omega may hold that position for many years, it is not unheard of for the pack to pick a new omega and let the other retire.

Living in a pack not only facilitates the raising and feeding of pups, coordinated and collaborative hunting, and the defense of territory, it also allows for the formation of many unique emotional bonds between pack members, the foundation for cooperative living. Wolves care for each other as individuals.

They form friendships and nurture their own sick and injured. Pack structure enables communication, the education of the young and the transfer of knowledge across generations. Wolves and other highly social animals have and pass on what can be best described as culture. A family group can persevere for several generations, even decades, carrying knowledge and information through the years, from generation to generation.

Wolves play together into old age, they raise their young as a group, and they care for injured companions. When they lose a pack mate, there is evidence that they suffer and mourn that loss. When we look at wolves, we are looking at tribes—extended families, each with its own homeland, history, knowledge, and indeed, culture. Wolves communicate, collaborate and share knowledge across generations.

The older wolves, as more experienced hunters, share hunting strategies and techniques with younger wolves, passing down knowledge from one generation to the next, maintaining a culture unique to that pack. The late biologist Gordon Haber observed wolves changing their hunting strategy based on weather, terrain, and prey behavior. Gray wolves usually eat large prey such as moose, goats, sheep and deer. Normally, the pack of wolves will find the weakest or sickest animal in a herd, circle it and kill it together.

Wolves are known to attack and kill domestic animals as well as animals they find in the wild. Red wolves eat smaller prey such as rodents, insects and rabbits. They aren't afraid of going outside their carnivorous diet and will eat berries on occasion, too. Young wolves are called pups. The leader of the pack and his female mate are usually the only ones in a pack that will have offspring. They mate in late winter. The female has a gestation period of nine weeks and gives birth to a litter consisting of one to 11 pups.

When the pups are born, they are cared for by all of the adult wolves in the pack. Young pups start off drinking milk from their mother, but around five to 10 weeks they will start eating food regurgitated from adult pack members. At six months, wolf pups become hunters, and at 2 years old they are considered adults. On average, a wolf will live four to eight years in the wild. Though wolves once roamed far and wide, they are very scarce today. According to the National Parks Conservation Association, there are 20 to 80 red wolves currently living in the wild.

The Eastern wolf is threatened and is protected in Canada. Packs of wolves don't like to stay in one place. They are known to travel as far as 12 miles 20 kilometers per day.