Classification and Range
In North America, gray wolves, also called timber wolves, have been hunted near to extinction in the United States with the exception of Alaska and small populations in Minnesota and Wisconsin. There is still a healthy population in Canada, but only unconfirmed remnant populations are thought to exist today in Mexico.

If you like this animal and find it particularly fascinating you can adopt it!

Reproduction
Wolves breed in February and March, and normally mate for life. Litters averaging about five pups are born in May or early June, in a den excavated as much as 10 feet (3 m) into well-drained soil. Adult wolves center their activities around dens while traveling as much as 20 miles (32 km) away in search of food, which is regularly brought back to the den. Wolf pups are weaned gradually during midsummer. In mid or late summer, pups are usually moved some distance away from the den; by early winter they can travel and hunt with adult pack members.

Life Cycle
Wolves are highly social animals, usually living in packs that include parents, pups born that year, some yearlings from the year before and often other adults. Social order is characterized by a dominance hierarchy with a separate ranking order among males and females. Although pack size usually ranges from six to 12 animals, packs of as many as 20 or 30 wolves sometimes occur. In most areas, wolf packs tend to remain within a home range. In Alaska, the home range may include some 200 to 600 square miles (520-1560 km2) of habitat.

Wolf Talk
Wolves keep in touch by howling. This type of communication among wolves has several meanings. It serves as a warning to other packs to stay away from their hunting ground. A howl is used to call the pack together after a hunt is over. Sometimes wolves howl just for the pleasure of it, and to reinforce ties between members of the pack.

The zoo's gray wolves can be viewed from a number of locations at the zoo's award-winning Northern Trail. Woodland Park Zoo has exhibited wolves for over 50 years. Since 1976, 24 wolves have been born here. Other mammals that can be seen at the Northern Trail are brown bear, fisher, elk, mountain goat and porcupine.

Wolves are considered endangered ** in 47 of the lower 48 states (the exception is Minnesota, where they are considered threatened). Wolves are in dire peril due to human encroachment and unwarranted fears about these predators. For example, by 1930, gray wolves were eliminated from Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, primarily because of conflicts with livestock ranchers. As a result of Canadian restoration programs, wolves returned to northwest Montana beginning in the 1980s. It took nearly 20 years of testy debate before a compromise allowed the reintroduction of wolves to central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park in 1995. Headed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, reintroduction efforts were successful. By 1997, there were about 300 wolves in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

In December 1998, however, a Wyoming judge ruled that the experimental reintroduction of wolves into central Idaho and Yellowstone was illegal and should be revoked, and ordered all reintroduced wolves removed from the wild. The judge stayed his order, pending an appeal from the U.S. Government.

On January 13 2000, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals oveturned the 1998 ruling. The ruling stated "We reserve the order and judgement of the district court, vacate the district court's stay order, and remand with instructions to the district court to enter an order upholding the challenged wolf reintroduction rules... Discerning no conflict between the challenged experimental population rules and the Endangered Species Act, we reserve the district court's order and judgement." The court solidly supported the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's wolf reintroduction program.

How You Can Help!
The effort to save endangered species requires cooperation and support at the international, national, regional and individual levels. You can help in this cause. Join and become active in a conservation organization of your choice. Don't buy products made from wild animal parts. Let your elected representatives know your views about protecting endangered species and wild habitats.

Contact Woodland Park Zoo at webkeeper@zoo.org to find out about ways you can support conservation programs at the zoo. Discover more about wolves by contacting Wolf Haven at International through its Web site: www.wolfhaven.org/. Learn other ways you can help conserve wildlife and the habitats they require for survival by visiting our How You Can Help page.

Sources and Suggested Reading
Mech, David L. 1991. The Way of the Wolf. Voyageur Press, Stillwater, MN. 120 p.

Nowak, Ronald M. ed. 1991. Walker's Mammals of the World. 5th Edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London. 1629 p.

For Kids!
Zoobooks. 1998. Wolves. Wildlife Education Ltd, San Diego, CA. 18 p.

More References

* Taxonomic classification varies between references. Classification information used in this fact sheet was taken from Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic And Geographic Reference, edited by Don E. Wilson and Dee Ann M. Reeder, Second Edition, 1993.

**Woodland Park Zoo identifies an animal or plant endangered if it is listed as endangered (in any part of its range) on the federal list of Endangered and Threatened Species, or if is listed on Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Facts About Woodland Park Zoo's Wolves

Frequently Asked Questions About Wolves