Gray wolves were once common throughout all of North America, but were exterminated in most areas of the United States by the mid 1930s. Today, their range has been reduced to Canada, Alaska, the Great Lakes, northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest.
Wolves have a complex communication system ranging from barks and whines to growls and howls. While they don't actually howl at the moon, they are more active at dawn and dusk, and they do howl more when it's lighter at night, which occurs more often when the moon is full.
Did you know that wolves have unique howls,like fingerprints, that scientists (and other members of their pack) can use to tell them apart?
Wolves howl to assemble the pack, usually before and after hunts, to
pass on an alarm, to locate each other
during a storm or unfamiliar territory and to communicate across great
distances. Wolf howls can under certain conditions be heard over areas of up to 50 miles.
When howling together, wolves harmonize rather than chorus on the same
note, thus creating the illusion of there being more wolves than there
actually are.
Animal lovers know that animals experience feelings and emotions just like us humans do, including the emotion of the day: LOVE. To celebrate Valentine's Day, we give you this photo gallery of animals in love!
The maned wolf looks like the tallest fox you’ve ever seen, but it’s not a fox at all. In fact, despite being called a wolf, it’s not closely related to the canids we call wolves either. It is thought that the maned wolf split off from its ancestors millions of years ago and developed its distinct size, shape, behavior (and even smell!) to suit its habitat. The maned wolf is so distinct it is actually the only species in its genus!
Photo: Sage Ross
Maned wolves are the tallest wild canines in the world and can be well over three feet tall at the shoulders. They are reddish-orange in color and are named for the erectile manes on their backs which are raised when they are alarmed.
Maned wolf pup
The maned wolf inhabits the open forests, grasslands and savannah of South America. Unlike true wolves, maned wolves do not form packs; they are usually extremely solitary animals that only socialize for mating purposes.
Maned wolves are true omnivores. Though they do hunt small mammals, birds and fish, over 50% of their diet is made up of fruits, vegetables and sugar cane. Maned wolves do not have any natural predators of their own and mainly face threats from feral dogs, automobile strikes and habitat loss.
Maned wolves usually mate for life and together defend a large territory of up to twelve square miles. Despite sharing the same territory, monogamous maned wolf pairs rarely interact with one another directly outside of the mating season. Instead, they use urine to mark hunting paths or buried prey. The urine’s distinct smell, which has been likened to hops or even cannabis, has earned this animal the nickname “skunk wolf”.
Though most people probably picture a wild tiger living in a warm climate, the largest of cats, the Siberian tiger, actually lives somewhere much colder.
The Siberian tiger is almost identical to the now-extinct Caspian tiger that was present across most of central Asia until recently. Caspian tigers were hunted aggressively during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries throughout Russia and China as forests were converted to farmland. The last confirmed Caspian tiger sightings occurred in the 1950’s, though unconfirmed reports still occur in the Middle East.
The current Siberian tiger can only be found in the birch forests of eastern Siberia, far northeastern China and North Korea. The wild population is estimated to be around 500 individuals. It is thought that they continue to exist in these areas because of the low human population density.
At nearly four feet tall at the shoulders and weighing nearly 700lbs, Siberian tigers are taller and heavier than Bengal tigers. They grow shaggy winter coats to deal with cold temperatures and tend to be less brightly colored than other tigers.
The Siberian tiger is an apex predator that feeds almost exclusively on red deer and wild boar. Both black and brown bears are occasionally hunted, but this is very rare. Brown bears have been known to hunt Siberian tigers as well; an equally rare occurrence. Siberian tigers also occur in the same habitat as wolves, though wolf populations tend to be much sparser in areas where the tiger is present.
Photo: Jelenia Sika
Despite their massive size, attacks by Siberian tigers on humans are rare. They are known to be extremely solitary animals that prefer to avoid human interaction. Most attacks throughout history have been either by wild tigers that were provoked or captive-raised tigers that did not possess an instinctual fear of humans.
