Gray Wolf

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Canis
Species: Canis lupus (gray wolf)

The gray wolf was eliminated from the western United States during the 1900s, primarily due to loss of habitat and conflicts with people. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 1973.

Wolves from Canada began to naturally colonize the Glacier National Park area in 1979, and the first wolf den in the western United States in more than 50 years was documented there in 1986. The wolf population in northwest Montana grew as a result of natural reproduction and dispersal. By the end of 1994, there were about 48 wolves in and around Glacier National Park.

In the winter of 1996, 17 wolves were captured near Fort St. Johns, British Columbia, Canada and were released into acclimation pens in Yellowstone National Park. Twenty wolves were released in central Idaho. These translocated wolves were the same subspecies that existed in the Northern Rocky Mountains historically. Wolves were not released within Montana, but wolf populations in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho grew rapidly and soon became a source for dispersers to Montana.

Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) obtained full authority to manage wolves throughout the state upon the federal delisting of the Rocky Mountain gray wolf in May 2011. Wolves are highly social animals that live in groups called packs that average 6 to 8 animals in Montana. Packs typically include a breeding pair, their offspring, and other non-breeding adults. Wolves are capable of breeding at 2 to 3 years of age. On average, 4 to 5 pups are born in early spring.

Gray wolves are built for travel with narrow bodies, long legs, and large feet. Wolf packs live within territories, which they defend from other wolves. A wolf can easily cover 10 to 20 miles in a day within their territory, which is approximately 150 square miles. In the Northern Rocky Mountains, lone dispersing wolves travel on average 60 to 70 miles, but have traveled as far as 600 miles in search of a mate or territory.

Wolf tracks are about 5 inches long by 4 inches wide, with 4 toes and claws in an oval shape. Wolf scat ranges from a half to one and half inches in diameter but is usually greater than an inch.

Gray wolves are classified as a "Species in Need of Management" in Montana.

For more information on wolves, visit the FWP website at https://fwp.mt.gov/conservation/wildlife-management/wolf.

Description

Gray wolves, or timber wolves, are canines with long bushy tails that are often black-tipped. Their coat color is typically a mix of gray and brown with buffy facial markings and undersides, but the color can vary from solid white to brown or black. Gray wolves look somewhat like a large German shepherd. Wolves vary in size depending on where they live. Wolves in the north are usually larger than those in the south. The average size of a wolf's body is 3 to 5 feet long, and their tails are usually 1 to 2 feet long. Females typically weigh 60 to 100 pounds, and males weigh 70 to 145 pounds.

Diet

Wolves are carnivores at the top of the ecological pyramid. They seek large vulnerable ungulates, such as deer, elk, and moose, as well as smaller mammals, such as beavers, rodents, and hares.

Behavior

Wolves communicate through body language, scent marking, barking, growling, and howling. Much of their communication is about reinforcing the social hierarchy of the pack.

When a wolf wants to show that it is submissive to another wolf, it will crouch, whimper, tuck in its tail, lick the other wolf's mouth, or roll over on its back. When a wolf wants to challenge another wolf, it will growl or lay its ears back on its head. A playful wolf dances and bows. Barking is used as a warning, and howling is for long-distance communication to pull a pack back together and to keep strangers away.