General Wolf Facts

Subject: General Wolf Facts Thu Jul 17, 2014 1:52 pm

Thank you for viewing this topic, as it is very important to any basic and advanced player on this site when interacting with other players and their characters. Even though I do allow 'some' differences, but they are not always physical/mental either. Below is a list of facts about these wonderful creatures and what they inhabit. Do not try to bypass these natural facts in any way or form when creating your character.

According to researchers, wolves are the largest in the canine family. Adult male wolves average ninety-five to one hundred pounds and females about fifteen pounds less

The wolf has extremely powerful jaws capable of generating 1,500 psi pressure

They also have 42 incisors, a broad heavy muzzle and rounded lobes.
The wolf's front teeth are sharp and pointed, adapted to puncturing, slashing, and clinging. The wolf's pointed premolars and molars are useful for tearing and shearing once the prey has been killed. To this, wolves do little chewing as they mainly swallow the chunks of meat they shear off
consuming almost twenty pounds of prey at a feeding. To the point of
The wolf feeding almost exclusively on flesh, bones, and other animal matter

Calculating to have the most widest ranges of size, shape and color of any mammal in North America

It's rare for such thing as different species of wolves combining into a whole new pack. A wolf pack forms just with two alpha's; a mating pair of which they breed their generation to evolve. Eventually the young will disperse from their family and move on to find a mate and start their own pack.
Wolves howl to greet one another, to indicate their location, to define their territorial boundaries, and to call the pack together.
Strong bonds are needed to hold a pack together; if there were no bonds, each wolf would go its separate way

Most packs include a pair of breeding adults, pups, and extra adults that may also breed. (I do allow this, to an extent. You must follow the general rules of pups and companions before you have a mate and pups of your own.)

Mating season for wolves occur roughly February-March. Once the female is pregnant, she holds her pups in her womb for 63 days. Wolves breed only once a year; most dogs breed twice (However, I do allow a certain time for our Rp. You don't have to wait a long time to give birth)

Wolves become sexually mature at approximately twenty-two months

Once the mother is ready to give birth, her pups will arrive April or May. From that time the general size of pups born are 4-7. (There is a limit for this on this site. You cannot have pups exceeding 5 or more)

If the mother gets enough nutrients and mobility, the birth all is combined with this factor.

Not all pups are born during labor Some pups do not even make it once outside of the mother's womb, their factors are high.
At birth they weigh only one pound, and their eyes are closed. Pups grow quickly. About 12 to 15 days after they are born, they open their eyes. By two weeks of age, the pups can walk, and about a week after that, they may come out of the den for the first time. At first, they live only on milk from their mother.

After birth the female wolf will lick the fetal sac from the puppy's head (she will also swallow all of these membranes), this allows the pup to take its first breath. The placenta attached to the pup by the umbilical cord will be delivered along with the pup. The mother severs the cord and eats the placenta (eating the placenta provides a valuable meal when she is unable to hunt).

The female wolf will lick the puppy dry and encourages it to nurse. The pup will instinctively move to the warm underbelly and nuzzles around to find a teat. The mothers mammary glands secrete colostrum, a watery milk which contains important antibodies. During nursing the mother will clean the pups and stimulates them to urinate and defecate by licking the genital region. She swallows all of their excretions, keeping the birthing area clean and odor-free.

Wolf pups, while low in hierarchy, have many privileges and social freedom However, all members of a wolf pack take part in caring for the young

When pack members return from the hunt and they are nipped on the snout by the pups, the hunters regurgitate undigested meat for them

Stages of Development

10 - 13 days: the eyes open
3 weeks: the milk teeth appear, they start to explore the den
4 - 5 weeks: short trips outside the den, begin to eat meat
6 weeks: moving up to a mile from the den (with adult wolf)
6 - 8 weeks: pups are weaned, traveling to rendezvous site.
12 weeks: begin to travel with the pack on hunts (with adult wolves)
15 - 28 weeks: milk teeth are replaced
7 - 8 months: begin to hunt with the pack

There are various ways to communication repertoire including scent marks, vocalizations, visual displays, facial and body postures and rituals. Also In addition to howling, wolves bark, yap, whine, and growl

There are more ways to communicate, especially around others other than the alpha dog. Which included harmony and integration rather than by aggression and submission. The wolf uses facial display in ritual aggression, dominance, submission or fear, using its hair to communicate anger, dominance and aggression.
Even though, submissive behavior plays a big role in maintaining peace within the pack

Many wolves are territorial and defend their territory through vocalizations and scent marking (Despite if your character is good-natured and kind-hearted, you can even invent your character to do just anything too.)

Dominance in a wolf pack is not necessarily established by brawn or direct attack. The hierarchy in a wolf pack neutralizes aggression, reduces conflict and promotes social order.
Change of rank in a wolf pack is more frequent in lower rank positions

If a lone wolf trespasses into an unknown territory captured and controlled by another wolf alone or pack, they will most likely attack when necessary.(It's very rare for wolves to be sweet and kind to lone wolves who embark into claimed boundaries.) Lone wolves have no social territory and rarely scent-mark or howl

A pack's home range will sometimes overlap the territory of another pack, thus allowing wolves of another territory to trespass when their territory is threatened by another. Resulting in possible fights over boundaries.

A wolf 'scent rolls' to promote interaction with other pack members. Any wolf also 'scent marks' its home range. This serves as messages, and provides warnings

The main threat is loss of habitat. Humans distributing and claiming land, making homes and businesses take away the free land from wolves every year.

Predation is not violence, it is the act of obtaining food for survival

At the top of the food chain, wolves are the top predator among the other animals.

Designed for running, catching and killing large animals, wolves hunt in groups to establish a bond and are opportunistic and will attempt to catch the easiest and most vulnerable animal. They will naturally seek out the crippled, weak, sick, young and elderly, even though they can still hunt the healthy animals as well.
Packs hunt in territories of up to 600 square miles

Wolves use direct scenting, chance encounter, and tracking to locate prey. In scenting an animal, wolves must usually be downwind of the prey

The speed of a wolf primarily travels at a 5 mile per hour trot. As often can trot at five to ten miles per hour almost indefinitely

In chases, the wolf can achieve estimated speeds of between 28 and 40 miles per hour for up to 20 minutes
(However, do not abuse this fact. Wolves are not as fast as a cheetah and cannot outrun anyone with Bora Bora-speeding.)

Wolves are vulnerable to skull injury from kicking prey
(With this said, you will most likely have to interact with animals when hunting. Describing them rearing, straining and even kicking can have some causes and outcomes too, right?)

Not always do wolves have a better percentage at successful hunts, but there are days where wolves cannot take down prey at any time. (This will and have to happen in Rp at some point, not every catch or game you find will be killed.)
In addition, to catch enough food, wolves must hunt often and test many animals before finding one that they can catch and kill

The canine teeth "interlock" so the wolf can grip and hang on to struggling prey. Thus with support of their back teeth; carnassial molars, are designed to crush bones and shear meat.
The wolf has 2 types of hair, "Guards and "Undercoat"

The color of a wolf's pelt can be anywhere from white to black

A wolf's sense of smell is more than 100 times greater than a human

A wolf may spend as much as a third of its time on the move

The wolf is generally a docile animal with a strong aversion to fighting

A wolf's front feet are larger than their back feet.
A wolf's tail hangs while the tail of the dog tends to be held high and is often curly.

Wolves are active at all times of the day in winter

Where waterways are plentiful, wolves often travel on the windswept and hardpacked ice in winter

Source of Facts - http://www.alaska.net/~wolfsong/wolf_facts.html
Source of Pup Facts - http://www.wolfcountry.net/information/WolfPup.html

General Wolf Identification

SPECIES	WOLF	COYOTE	DOG
Weight (lbs)	70-115	20-35	Variable
Height at Shoulder	26-34 in.	16-20 in.	Variable
Color	black, white, all shades of gray & tan, grizzled, never spotted	all shades of gray & tan, white or black very rare, never spotted.	Variable, may be spotted
Tail Carriage	hangs down or straight out, never curls	hands down or straight out, never curls	Variable, may curl
General Appearance	massive, long legged, first impression is often calf or deer	delicate, medium size, dog-like proportions with fox-like face.	Variable
Ears	rounded, relatively short, never hang down	pointed, relatively long, never hang down	Variable, may hang down
Muzzle	large and blocky	long and pointed	Variable

Wolves' chests are narrow and keel-like, and their fore limbs seem pressed into their chests with elbows turned inward and paws turned outward (Young 1944, Iljin 1941). Milton Hildebrand analyzed the body proportions of various members of the dog family and concluded that wolves' legs are moderately long compared to the legs of other canids

Color ranges from white to black shades of brown and gray. White and light-colored waives predominate in the arctic, while black and gray are common in the subarctic and boreal forest regions. Gray phases prevail in the south. The wolves in north-western Montana are predominantly gray (45% ) or black (55% ). The coat consists of a dense layer of soft, fine fur topped by long guard hairs, which give the coat its color.

To learn more about these wolf facts, please take a look at this source.
http://www.alaska.net/~wolfsong/wolf_id.html

I do not own these facts. The links provided are the sources of the wording. To briefly state the words printed for this topic, for many members to recognize any mistakes they may have made and will be more secure over their facts of wolves.

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