The aperture of a camera is the distance that the shutter opens.
Myopia is near-sightedness.
A porpoise is a dolphin.
Fovea centralis is the point where the vision is most acute.
The retina is the innermost coat of the back part of the eyeball; a layer of cells sensitive to light.
A carnivore is a meat-eater.
Vestige is a degenerate, atrophied, or rudimentary organ or part, more fully developed or functional in an earlier stage of development of the individual or species.
Tenuous means fragile.
For hundreds of years, dogs have been bred to obey humans. Wolves are still wild animals. They cannot by trained to be obedient family pets. People who have kept wolves as pets have learned that they can become very destructive, ruining walls and furniture.
A wolf family is called a pack. Most wolf packs are a close-knit family with a mother, father, pups, youngsters and adult offspring.
Wolves live in the wilderness as far away from people as possible. Wolves also have dens which are at the end of tunnels, but the dens are reserved only for the babies.
A wolf's territory ranges from 50 to 150 square miles. They leave fresh scent posts, or messages, marking the boundaries of their territory by urinating.
The numbers in North America are astronomical. Many thousands of wolves a year are killed by man. On the other hand, in North America there is no record of any healthy wolf killing a person.
Wolves do not kill people, but many stories and fables, such as Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs, have given people the wrong idea.
Wolf sounds include howling, barking, whimpering and growling.
Reintroduction is bringing wolves back to their natural habitat.
A coyote is a smaller animal that feeds on smaller prey than a wolf. However, coyotes will often scavenge the remains of a wolf kill for their food. Unlike wolves, coyotes can live close to people and urban areas. They don't have the same large social structure as wolves. Often they are just in pairs and not in packs.
There should be plenty of prey left for hunters after wolves eat their share. In fact, one study showed that deer were killed mainly by hunters, starvation and disease, and cars, in that order.
A wolf can survive on only five deer for an entire season, or twenty for the entire year.
A wolf's general temperament is not vicious. Wolves are not aggressive like some domestic dogs that have been trained to hunt or to attack. They are emotional animals and are often very shy. When going after prey, especially with other members of the pack, they can appear very vicious, but a lot of it is just display and noise.
No. Wolves almost always avoid people because they are so fearful of them.
Wolves, like other predators, are meat-eaters and have very short digestive tracts. Animal protein doesn't take very long to digest, but breaking down plant protein can be very difficult. Other animals such as cows and deer have multi-chambered stomachs and are built for digesting plants much better.
Bears are much stronger and can easily kill wolves.
It's not just a coincidence that wolves look like dogs. Wolves are the ancestors to all dogs, from poodles to Saint Bernards. Along with foxes and coyotes, they all belong to the family Canidae. Dogs inherited their body and behavior traits from wolves, yet wolves and dogs are also very different in many ways. For hundreds of years, dogs have been bred to obey humans. Some dogs have been bred to be good watchdogs, while others are bred just to be cute and fun. Although wolves are a type of wild dog, they are nothing more than a distant relative to the domestic dog.
Yes, wolves might kill your pet if it's wandering in the wilderness. Wolves would probably not attack your pet if it's near your house or yard since wolves generally do not come near houses. Even any problems ranchers have had with their livestock being killed by wolves have arisen when the livestock is wandering free.
A species in imminent danger of going extinct unless corrective measures are taken is considered an endangered species, and the Endangered Species Act requires that the government take measures to ensure their survival. In all the lower forty-eight states except Minnesota, wolves are classified as endangered. There are only about 2,000 wolves left in the lower forty-eight states, and 1,500 to 1,700 are in Minnesota. Although the wolf is not endangered in Minnesota, it is considered threatened, and the government requires that any threatened species be monitored. The state with the next highest wolf population is Montana, which has only about 60 wild wolves.
There are two species of wolf: the red wolf and the gray wolf. The red wolf is the least-known wolf, from the southeastern United States. Most wolves we hear about are gray wolves, which are many different sizes and colors and live in environments from deserts to the arctic. The gray wolves that live among the trees in the eastern parts of the United States and Canada are known as timber wolves. Arctic wolves, Mexican wolves, Texas gray wolves, and northwestern Rocky Mountain wolves are all gray wolves.
Overwhelmingly, man is the wolf's greatest enemy.
Wolves don't usually even allow other wolves to join wolf packs, and therefore will not let a dog join.
Anybody can help the wolf by keeping informed through reading, classes, and observation. Share your knowledge of the wolves. Get involved with parks or other organizations, and raise money to help these organizations. Also, write lots of letters! Write letters to elected representatives, agencies and others. Write letters of praise and thanks to show appreciation to people who help wolves. Everyone can make a difference!
