Montana Wildlife - Gray Wolf
Wolf. The word itself sparks images of untamed wilderness, feelings of boundless freedom, and in some cases longing for a greater connection with nature. Wolf sightings have increased significantly throughout SW Montana over the past 10 years as the reintroduced cog in the Yellowstone ecosystem began to spread beyond the designated boundaries of the Park. Though a reclusive animal, much sign of their presence has been observed, mostly through track and scat with the presence of depredation to domestic livestock an ever present concern on the minds of ranchers and livestock owners throughout the state.
Gray wolves, like many wolf species, live and hunt in packs. The pack consists of the adult parents, called the alpha pair, and their offspring of perhaps the last two to three years. Adult gray wolves mate for life, pairs mate in the winter and in about nine weeks time anywhere from two to 14 pups are born. The pups are born blind and other females will assist in caring for the litter until the pups are able to travel with the pack, which is usually three to five months.
The adult parents are usually unrelated and other unrelated wolves may sometimes join the pack. Pack size is highly variable because of three main factors: birth of pups, dispersion of adults, and mortality. Generally, a gray wolf pack has from six to eight wolves; however packs in areas like northern Canada and Alaska can have up to thirty members. Gray wolf territories in the lower 48 can be from twenty-five to one-hundred fifty square miles.
Gray wolves are the largest of the wolf family and adult males can average five to six and a half feet from nose to tail. Adult female gray wolves will weigh between fifty and eighty-five pounds, while males will be larger, approximately seventy to one-hundred ten pounds and can in some cases reach one-hundred thirty pounds. Gray wolves primarily prey on large animals. Elk, deer, moose, and even mountain goats are possible prey. They will also take medium sized game such as beaver, and snowshoe hare, in addition they will occasionally take small rodents (shrews, mice, and voles) and birds.
Gray wolves in the wild have an average life span of six to eight years, but have been known to live up to 13 years in the wild and up to 16 years in captivity. The natural causes of wolf mortality are primarily starvation, which kills most pups (young), and death from other wolves due to territorial disputes. Additionally, there are also deaths from injury due to chasing prey. Pup mortality rates are highly variable but somewhere between 40 and 60 percent of pups will die each year.
Gray wolves actually exhibit many different coat colors, even within one pack. They range from obviously gray to white, red, or black. Wolves can sustain speeds of 35 miles per hour for short bursts, and leap twelve feet in the air. Thirty gray wolves were released into Yellowstone National Park in 1995; those wolves have now expanded to over 20 separate packs within or near Yellowstone Park.
Some people continue to carry the unrealistic belief that wolves routinely attack people or threaten outdoor activities. In fact, wolves generally avoid humans and are rarely a threat to human safety. There are only a handful of reports where wolves have deliberately attacked or seriously injured a human in North America. Most attacks on people involved wolves that had been fed by people and had become habituated to human presence. However, wild wolves are still wild animals and should be respected as such. Wolves can be very tolerant of human activity if they are not deliberately persecuted so there is rarely ever a reason to restrict human activity, including hiking and jogging, simply because wolves live in the general area.
All best,
______________________
Jason Frey
Agent
PureWest, Inc.
jason.frey@purewestproperties.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonfreylifewideopen
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