The slideshow featured above includes photographs of the gray wolf, a common figure in the North American region. Gray wolves are an iconic animal to many. Find out about these fun facts regarding the legendary gray wolf and why we should help them survive.
1. Gray wolves are considered to be elegant predators and highly social animals that form tight, nuclear packs. A symbol of the wilderness and the predecessors to our domesticated dogs.
2. On average, gray wolves will eat 20 to 30 pounds of meat in one meal, but have also been known to go up to 14 days between meals with no ill effects.
3. There are five subspecies of gray wolves in North America. Their coat colors can range from pure white to brown, gray, cinnamon, and black.
4. Gray wolves travel in packs of four to seven, led by the alphas-the mother and father wolves that track, hunt, and choose dens for the pups or younger subordinate wolves.
5. Wolves often mate for life.
6. Wolf pups are born blind and deaf, and must be cared for until they mature at around ten months of age.
7. They have complex communication system that involves body language, barking, growling, "dancing," howling, and scent marking.
8. Gray wolves are carnivores that usually prey on animals much larger than themselves. Their heightened sense of smell and hearing makes them excellent hunters.
9. Wolves are frequently mentioned in human folklore. In Roman mythology, the Wolf-Goddess Lupa finds Romulus and Remus, future founders of Rome, as infants and nursed them until a shepherd took them in.
10. After the last wolf was killed in Yellowstone National Park in 1926, a wolf reintroduction program was implemented in 1995. The program is considered to be a great success-the wolves are reproducing at a rapid rate, and there are currently around 100 wolves in the park.
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