Eastern Timber Wolf     Canis lupus

Wolves are highly social animals and almost always live in packs.  The pack is the basic unit of the wolves’ highly complicated social structure, and consists of a group of individual wolves that hunt, feed, travel, and rest together.  Within any pack of wolves, there is a strict, rigidly enforced social structure based on dominance.  There are two dominance orders within each pack, male and female.  Generally, the highest-ranking male, the alpha male, is dominant over all other animals in the pack, and is the recognized leader.  The most dominant female, the alpha female, is dominant over all females in the pack, but is subordinate to the alpha male.

Unlike many mammals, wolves do not make regular use of shelters.  A den is constructed solely for the purpose of birthing and raising pups, and is only used for about 2 months.  Dens are usually located on slopes, ridges, or other high ground, and are typically near a water source.

Wolves communicate with each other in a great variety of ways.  They may position themselves in various poses to indicate aggression or subservience.  Vocal sounds, such as whimpering, growling, and howling may be used, as well as other body signals including position of: the ears (either held erect or flattened against the head), the tail (wagged or held stiff), and the hairs on the back (erected or laid flat).  All of these behaviors are used in response to different situations. 

Wolves spend almost their entire waking time either eating or hunting.  After finishing a meal, which typically consists of deer or elk, they will begin almost immediately searching for new prey.  Wolves have three main methods of locating prey: direct scenting, chance encounter, and tracking.  Of these three, direct scenting is used most often.  Wolves play a major role in removing sick and elderly animals from a herd. 

Throughout history, wolves have been given the reputation of being vicious, blood-thirsty animals, and were hunted vigorously into the early 1900's. With the help of werewolf movies and the like, a fear of wolves has been instilled in our children, and the cycle is perpetuated. In truth,wolves typically avoid human contact at all cost and in North America, no person has ever been killed by a wolf. 

The eastern timber wolf was the first subspecies of the gray wolf, Canis lupus to be recoginized in the United States.

Our wolf alphas are parents to rest of the pack.

Marta - Great Plains Wolf (Canis lupus nubilus), a.k.a the Buffalo Wolf, is a subspecies of the Gray Wolf.

Sig - Rocky Mountain wolf (Canis lupus occidentalis) is also sometimes called the Alaskan or Mackenzie Valley wolf, also a subspecies of the Gray Wolf.