Wolves are very interesting animals. Here I have some facts about them. This is an informal text, so if you’ve ever wanted to learn (or have an essay or something) about wolves, then this is the story for you.

Behaviors: Wolves are pretty smart. Wolves even have social codes! They communicate by howling, barking, growling, and whimpering. Like humans (but not exactly what people do), they also have body signs. One example is: when they are mad, they wrinkle their nose, ruffle their fur, and their ears are forward and elongated.

Family Life: Forming a pack is a very well known thing that wolves do. “Each pack can have 5-11 members with 2-3 families in each” (Wikipedia). Wolves also have a social hierarchy, ranks include (least to greatest): omega, beta and alpha. Taking care of their cubs is very important to a wolf. The omega rank is most commonly known to be the babysitter. They also do other things like bathing and playing with the cubs. The beta is more and less just neutral. Kind of like the drone bees of a hive. Finally, the alpha wolf is the leader of the pack, they enforce the rules and get to eat second after the cubs. “Adult hunters in the pack take care of cubs by regurgitating food they bring to the den and feeding it to them” (National Wildlife Federation).

Life Span: “Gray wolves can live up from 8-13 years in the wild, but while in captivity, they can live up to 15” (National Wildlife Federation). That just shows how good wolves are good at surviving, they live only 2 more years in shelter (by the way, being in captivity means being taken care of in this case). Gray wolves aren’t endangered but are still looked out for. Mostly because in some countries they are hunted because farmers need to keep their livestock safe.

One of the main reasons I wrote this is for people to be informed and mostly because I love wolves. Well, that’s it. Oh goodness, I’ve gone through this whole thing without telling you how to sound like a smart person? Well, if you want to than instead of saying “Wolf” or “Gray wolf”, say Canis Lupus.