Wolves

Wolves

        Wolves have been loved and hated, they’ve been hunters and the hunted, and were persecuted and protected. These animals have been mistakenly known for as murderers, and have been hunted for many reasons. Many of these reasons does not make hunting reasonable. Wolves communicate through many different ways, and hunt a variety of animals. These animals are complex, and have an important role in the ecosystem. Wolves are majestic animals that can be fierce, but also lovable.

        Wolves—weighing around 85 to 150 pounds—hunt prey that range from a small animals like rodents, or to animals that are double their size, or even triple! Wolves are carnivores, meaning that they are meat eaters. However, they will eat other foods as well, like berries. Their diet usually consists of large animals like elk and moose. When out on a hunt, wolves try to separate the weaker members of a herd from the stronger ones.  This way, the wolves can save energy. It’s also a lot safer for them too because the stronger animals can fight back, and it would cause more damage to the wolf. When a large animal, like moose or buffalo, fight back, then there is a huge chance of the wolf getting killed. When the herd migrates, the wolves would go eat birds, mice, fish, and any other animal that they can get their paws on. When the wolves eventually do catch their prey, they would eat their food very quickly. The reason may be to protect it from scavengers, and so that they have less of a chance of being attacked by other predators or a member of the herd. Usually, the wolves eat the best parts first, then come back later to finish it off. Wolves could eat every five to six hours, but only if there is enough food available. Otherwise, wolves can live on less food for two weeks, like in the winter when the animals migrate. Sometimes wolves swallow bones with splinters, so they somehow become wrapped in undigested hair. This protects their intestines from getting injured.

Wolves usually live in packs, which are made up of family members. The leaders of the packs are called the alphas, and are the parents of the pack. To feed the pups, the adult wolves would go out hunting to find food. They would eat some of the food, then regurgitate it from their stomachs. They may also carry pieces of meat to their young ones. The pups would usually stay in dens with the members of the pack that stayed behind. The wolves would take care of the pups from hungry predators wandering around the area. They would also make sure that the pups don’t wander off.

Wolves have been hunted for years. Some species of wolves have become extinct because of this.  There are many reasons for hunting wolves, but none of them really make it look like hunting these creatures is a good thing. One reason is that the wolves would kill livestock, which they sometimes do. However, wolves killing livestock is not their first choice. They would much rather go hunting for their usual food, like moose. They go after the livestock because their prey has been killed or forced to migrate somewhere else. So obviously wolves would go after what they can. Since their usual prey is not around, they would kill livestock. They are predators, so they hunt whatever is available in order to survive. So people can’t give this excuse when hunting wolves. Another reason is that when getting rid of wolves, then people would have more animals to hunt. They thought that without them, they would get the chance to hunt these animals. This theory was proven wrong when the wolves in Yellowstone National Park were wiped out. This led to overgrazing and the environment was damaged. The herbivores starved, and eventually they all began to die. Wolves are a very important part of the ecosystem. They help balance things like this out so that things don’t go crazy, and mess up in the environment. The wolves help the species stay healthy by getting rid of the weak. This way, the healthy animals would breed, and produce healthy offspring. Otherwise, the unhealthy organisms would breed, and the offspring would be sick. Another reason is that people just think that hunting such strong and powerful animals is fun. They like to feel that they are tougher than wolves, and show off. Some of them wear their skins or hang them on the wall. People who kill wolves just for the love of mankind make no sense. Wolves would usually try to avoid humans, and try to having nothing to do with them. People also hunt wolves because they fear that these animals would go and attack their families. However, the problem was that there was never a health wolf that attacked a human being. All wolf attack reports were investigated, and it turns out that the attacks were from feral dogs, wolf hybrids, or rabid wolves. So really, wolves aren’t to blame for these attacks. These animals should have a better judgment before they are hunted down to extinction.