WOLF FACTS
Wolves are intelligent and social animals. They have complex social families; they play, teach, and hunt with each other.- Radiocollared wolves have been tracked ranging more than 700 kilometres.
- A wolf’s sense of smell is 100 times more sensitive than a human’s.
- R.D. Lawrence wrote that a "five month old [wolf pup] was able to pick up the smell of a porcupine eating grass in a meadow a mile [1.6 kilometres] from the pup."
- Noted wolf biologist, L.D. Mech stated that "wolves can hear as far as 6 miles [9.6 kilometres] away in the forest and ten miles [16 kilometres] away on the open tundra.
- Wolves have been known to respond to human imitations of wolf howls from 4 kilometres away.
- In the Algonquin Park region, recent genetic studies on what were thought to be gray wolves (Canis lupus) have revealed that they are in fact part of a remnant population of the endangered red wolf which used to range throughout the eastern half of North America. They are an entirely different species from the gray wolf and not a subspecies. Geneticists are suggesting a new taxonomic status for this wolf and the red wolf – Canis lycaon. Protection is urgently needed for this rare species.
- Wolves in Ontario tend to be between sixty pounds (27 kg) and one hundred pounds (45 kg) with the heavier wolves ranging in the north of the province. The heaviest wolf on record in Canada was found in 1945 in Jasper National Park. He weighed 175 pounds (80kg).
- Wolves’ fur ranges in colour from gray brown to white to black. The tip of a wolf’s tail is often coloured black.
- There have been 85 public wolf howls in Algonquin Park since 1963. Over 110 000 people have traveled to the park for these howls. Some howls have more than 1 600 people attending. These howls take place in August. Similar public howls have been instituted in other parks in Canada (Jasper, Prince Albert, Riding Mountain, and Sibley). For more information about the howls contact Algonquin Park
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