Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
legs, or roll onto its back. This sort of communication helps to keep a social order in the pack, and
probably prevents a great deal of outright fighting.
Wolves are extremely territorial and will fight fiercely to defend their territory against other wolves.
Indeed, it isn't uncommon for wolves to be killed in these territorial battles. This is especially true in
the case of lone interlopers, who may be pursued and killed by the whole pack. In some areas these
territorial defenses even constitute a major source of wolf mortality.
Much of a pack's time is spent in hunting, for wolves are almost totally carnivorous. Although they
catch smaller creatures, such as ptarmigan, hares, and mice, wolves rely principally on big game for
sustenance. Large animals such as deer, elk, caribou, and musk oxen are essential to the wolf's surviv-
al: the pack can't catch and kill enough small game to feed itself for any length of time, so the large
quantities of meat provided by big mammals are a necessity.
Farley Mowat's topic
Never Cry Wolf,
and the movie and video versions of it, have duped untold
numbers of people into believing that wolves subsist mainly on mice during the summer. I was, I con-
fess, among the “dupees.” I first read the topic when I was in college and was greatly impressed by it.
Mowat is a most entertaining writer, and I accepted the topic as fact. Only later did I learn that the topic,
which defends—indeed, glorifies—the wolf is fictional.
L. David Mech, probably our leading authority on wolves in North America and a scientist who
has done an enormous amount to educate the public about this widely misunderstood predator, put it
rather succinctly. After noting that no scientist, Mowat notwithstanding, has ever found a population
of wolves that regularly subsists on small prey, he states, “However, Mowat is not a scientist, and his
topic, although presented as truth, is fiction.”
A wolf attack on big game is often not a pretty spectacle, despite the illusion that many people
hold of the wolf as a swift, silent killer. Although small prey and some large animals—especially their
young—are brought down and killed rapidly, the death of many others is a time-consuming and ter-
rifying affair for the prey. It's also difficult and dangerous for the wolves themselves, and biologists
estimate that less than 10 percent of wolf attacks on large mammals are successful.
Wolves test different animals until one of the alpha wolves senses weakness on the part of a particu-
lar specimen. If the prey, particularly a moose, stands its ground, the wolves will leave it. Large animals
that are strong, healthy, and stationary present a serious danger to wolves. A slashing hoof can break
ribs or crush a skull, and a sharp antler or horn can gore or impale. The attack isn't worth the risk.
Prey that flees is a different matter. The wolf pack pursues, trying to gauge the strength of the animal.
If it fails to gain on the animal within a few minutes, the pack usually abandons the chase. If the wolves
are able to close on their prey, however, they begin nipping at heels and flanks to avoid fatal blows from
front hooves, antlers, or horns. Eventually the animal tires, and more and more bites are inflicted. Fin-
ally one of the wolves, usually the alpha male, runs forward and seizes the prey by the nose. Aided by
this distraction, the other wolves rush in, attack flanks and throat, and finish the now-helpless animal.
