A wolf in the wild. Life expectancy of wolves

In the eyes of the child, a wolf is an animal from a fairy tale, for an adult a wolf is a character of films about werewolves. This is if we proceed from the fact that now people are captured by solid television. Just watch is not just one entertaining movie, sometimes you should pay attention to documentary programs about life. Then you can learn about wolves a lot of interesting, importantly, reliable. For example, how they behave in a natural habitat, how long a wolf lives in nature, what enemies are threatened ... Having read this article, you will be able to make sure that it is not such a terrible and unprincipled animal, as shown in Horror stories and fairy tales.

A wolf is a typical predator

In the animal world, the wolf is considered to be the most typical predator. Together with their closest "relatives" - coyotes, jackals, wild dogs, they honorably occupy their place in the wolf family. Only two species represent the real wolves in the world - red and gray.

To describe the appearance of this predator a lot of time is not required, there is no such person who would not know what a wolf looks like. There are all the signs of a real predator! The body is slender and at the same time tightly knocked down, legs long, designed for long transitions and fast running (the wolf can reach speeds of up to 60 km / h), the muzzle is elongated. To all this, the obligatory "decoration" of the predator is attached - two rows of large and sharp teeth (with one bite the wolf bites the throat of the sheep). Claws on the paws are stupid, they sting from walking, these animals move a lot. No wonder the people say: "The wolf feeds the legs!"

The size and color of predators depends on their location. Northern representatives of this genus are rather large, with a wool of light gray almost white color. Predatory inhabitants of the middle band of the usual gray color, but among them there are rare handsome men whose wool is absolutely black. Wolves from the southern region are brown and red, at a rate they are noticeably inferior to their relatives. Their weight and size are quite small in comparison with the northern "brothers".

In what area does the wolf live in nature?

The life of wolves is quite possible in any locality, so it would be, but man applied his evil will to this. People persistently exterminated these predators in order to push them away from their homes. So it turns out that the life expectancy of wolves in nature Largely depends on human activities.

These hardy predators live in different localities and in any climate. Meet them in the wild is possible in the mountains, forests, steppes and tundra. Only in Holland, Belgium, Denmark and France our contemporaries, unfortunately, can not see the wolf in the wild, in these countries the animals are simply exterminated. You can admire them only in zoos. That's such a sad fact.

The way of life of wolves in the natural environment

The wolf pack usually consists of 10-30 predators, these are schooling beasts. At the head of each family, as expected, is the older couple of parents. The life of wolves in the wild Very interesting! Animals live in their community according to "wolf" laws, only in the good sense of this definition. The leader holds strict discipline, distributes the duties fairly and divides the booty. "Talk" between each other with the help of facial expressions and gestures. A simple grin of an alpha male and an alpha female can put into place a disobedient kindred.

The life of the wolves can tell us another interesting detail. The dominant pair always proudly holds the tail up, showing the rest its superiority. Members of the pack, standing a step lower in rank, try to make the tail an even continuation of the trunk. The lower the position of the animal in the family, the lower the tail falls. The weakest hold him tight, despite the low position, no one dares to offend them. On the contrary, they can count on protection and the share of production, unless they themselves are rude to rudeness.

Marriage period and continuation of the family

The life span of wolves is not so great if you take into account all the dangers that they are trapped in nature. For their lives, animals must be in time to leave offspring, in order for their kind to continue. This is the law of nature! Wolves lead the puppies once a year.

The mating season begins in the winter, the gong of one pair lasts for 5-10 days, the pregnancy lasts 60-64 days. In the spring, a wolf in a hole at a pair of wolves is already squealing. Usually in the brood there are from 3 to 5 kids, they are born blind and helpless, a whole month and the nose is not shown from the den. From 1.5 months they become real predators and begin to eat meat, although it is half-digested, for the puppies it belches up the father of the family. Couples create their wolves for life, only in the case of the death of one of the spouses, the survivor is looking for a new life partner, the parents are caring for the growing kids on equal terms.

Life expectancy of wolves in nature

The wolves have a few enemies among the animals, they are bold and hardy, they have excellent hearing and sharp eyesight, there is no one to be afraid of. If this beast enters combat, it fights to the last breath. His main enemies are man and hunger! During the lack of fodder many young inexperienced animals die, those that are older also bear losses from this invisible enemy. As for people, it is they who kill the greatest number of animals.

Life expectancy of wolves in nature About 6-10 years, but rarely the beast survives to a very old age. Nature lovers are known for the Arctic wolf, which was called the Sword, for his life was observed by scientists. They recorded this beast as a long-liver of the wild nature, he managed to live up to 13 years. But there are very few such "grandfathers" in the wolf family.

Life expectancy of wolves in captivity

Wolves, like many other animals, live in captivity. They can be seen in zoos, even in our time there are many private possessions in the territory of which wolves are hosted as pets. They are well-tamed, but they almost do not yield to training, keeping the wild pride of the beast in captivity. To suck up to the owner, as the dog does , the wolf will not.

Under the protection of a person, while in captivity, a wolf can live up to 15 years. In this case, he is not threatened by his worst enemies - hunger and man himself. Under good conditions of maintenance, with a high-quality diet, which includes everything needed for a predator, a wolf can live 17-18 years.