General Information about Wolves
Arctic Wolf
Grey wolf
Wolves are mainly found in the United States and the frozen tundra of Alaska and Canada
They can adapt and move into new territory if necessary to survive so they have been found along the plains, in the savannah deserts of Africa and in forests that have both hardwood and softwood.
As long as basic needs are met, they can survive.
Very diverse
Endangered animal
There are only two widely recognised species of wolves, the red and grey. However, there is debate over how many species of wolf exist and if there are different subspecies of the grey wolf.
Feeding
Wolves can survive on 2.5 pounds of food per day, but require about five pounds per day to reproduce successfully.
Wolves are estimated to eat 10 pounds of food per day on average.
Most wolves don’t actually eat every day, however they live a feast or famine lifestyle. They may go several days without a meal and them gorge over 20 pounds of meat when a kill is made.
Wolves primarily feed on prey animals larger than themselves because this provides food for many individuals.
Wolves will prey on smaller mammals such as beaver and hare. Because wolves inhabit a much wider area than its prey species, different populations of wolves prey upon different animals.
Wolves located in the Western Great Lakes region typically prey upon whitetail deer whereas wolves in central Canada prey primarily on caribou.
Kingdom: Animalia All animals
Phylum: Chordata Animals with a backbone
Class: Mammalia All mammals
Order: Carnivora Carnivorous mammals
Family: Canidae Dog-like mammals
Genus: Canis Dogs
Species: lupus (grey wolves),rufus (red wolves),lycaon (some scientists think is a subspecies of grey wolf)
Examples of other Canid Species
latrans (coyote) aureus (golden jackal) mesomelas (black-backed jackal) adustus (side-striped jackal) dingo (dingo) familiaris (domestic dog) simensis (Abyssinian or Ethiopian wolf)
Pack and Territory Size
The number of individuals per pack can be highly variable, but averages four to eight during winter in the western Great Lakes area with records of up to 16. Pack size can be as high as 30 or more in parts of Canada and Alaska. A wolf pack will roam and defend a territory of between 25 and 100 miles in the western Great Lakes area. Territories can reach hundreds of square miles where prey densities are in low density such as in northwestern Canada.
http://www.wolf.org/learn/basic-wolf-info/types-of-wolves/
Myths and Legends
Red Wolf
Indo-European- Very Negative big bad wolf..
North American Mythology- Often worshiped, totems, guardians
Roman-Quite positive Female wolves nursing Remus and Romulus Founders of Rome
Mongols-Sons of the Blue wolf
5 mins of wolf howling...
Communication
Task
There are three ways wolves communicate
With sound-Howls, Barks, Whimpers and Growls
With special scents from Scats, Urine and pheromones
And Body language body positions and movements and facial expressions.
Bibliography
Write a legend or myth about wolves.
Illustrate a wolf or mythical wolf.
Write about anything to do with wolves.
Recreate a wolf conversation BUT, you must think of the meanings of each howl, growl, whimper
The most famous is howling
Living with wolves-Documentary
http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/TwoWolves-Cherokee.html
http://www.wsl.ch/land/products/predator/paper2.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wolves
http://selkywolf.com/MYTHTABLE.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolves_in_folklore,_religion_and_mythology
http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/othermagicspells/p/Wolf-Folklore-And-Legend.htm
Brain food will be awarded to students doing a good job.