Gray Wolf
| Gray Wolf | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||||||||||
| Character Data | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| Animal Data | ||||||||||||
|
| Gray Wolf | Anime | Season 2 | Manga | Festival | Pavilion | KF3 | Kingdom | Nexon Game | Gallery |
Gray Wolf is a wolf Friend who has appeared in all Kemono Friends media to date.
Appearance
Gray Wolf has distinctive wolf ears on her head, two-tone tail (mostly white with a black tip), and heterochromic eyes (a yellow right eye and a blue left eye). She also has dichromactic, long, wild, and black-and-white hair. The white hairs appear near the ends of her hair and the sides of her bangs. She wears a black suit with a white fur collar, a white shirt, black tie, white gloves, two-tone black stockings, and a gingham-patterned, black-and-white skirt.
In Real Life
Gray wolves are a fairly common animal that can be seen throughout North America, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Due to the varying climates, gray wolves vary in size and weight. Like most canine families, gray wolves are social animals. They tend to have packs that consists of a family of 5–11 animals (1–2 adults, 3–6 juveniles and 1–3 yearlings).
Although many people fear wolves, a majority of recorded attacks on people have been attributed to wolves suffering from rabies. Non-rabid wolves have rarely attacked and killed people, as they tend to live away from people and have developed a fear of humans. Despite this, they still face a lot of human threats, such as farmers protecting their livestock, hunters setting traps, and people shooting them out of pure fear. In the mid 1930s, the rampant killing of gray wolves almost drove them entirely out of North America.
Despite their feared reputation, the Native Americans honored the gray wolf. They were believed to be spiritual guides that lead people into the afterlife, and became a well-respected animal as a result. Tribes admired the wolves for how similar they were to humans, as they too were social, hunters of animals, and family-dependent. Some tribes claimed they developed their hunting techniques by watching gray wolves hunt their prey.
Mating season for gray wolves occurs from January to February. During this, the alpha male and their partner will mate. Normally, no other wolves in the pack will mate, but it can still happen from time to time. The female will have up to 6 pups, which the entire pack will protect as a whole. When the pup reaches the age of two to three years old, they will either join another pack or find a mate and form their own.
Like other wolves, gray wolves enjoy a carnivorous diet. They mostly eat hooved animals, otherwise known as ungulates. This includes elk, deer, moose, and caribou. They're also known to feed on smaller animals such as rabbits. They are capable of eating between 7-20lbs of meat in one sitting. Their favored method of hunting is chasing, due to their ability to run up to 38 miles per hour and for distances up to 12 miles. Should they find an animal that died before they found it (such as from natural causes), a gray wolf won't shy away from scavenging for meat.
Trivia
- A wolf's howl is unique between each wolf. It's possible to identify a specific gray wolf by the sound of their howl alone.
- Once a gray wolf has found a mate, it will stick by that same mate for life.
References
Defenders of Wildlife. (2017). Basic Facts About Gray Wolves. [online] Available at: https://defenders.org/gray-wolf/basic-facts [Accessed 29 Nov. 2017].
American Expedition. (2017). Gray Wolf Facts & Information. [online] Available at: https://americanexpedition.us/learn-about-wildlife/gray-wolf-facts-information/ [Accessed 29 Nov. 2017].
Nationalgeographic.com. (2017). Gray Wolf / National Geographic. [online] Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/g/gray-wolf/ [Accessed 29 Nov. 2017].
Defenders of Wildlife. (2017). Threats to Wolves. [online] Available at: https://defenders.org/gray-wolf/threats [Accessed 29 Nov. 2017].
Encyclopedia Britannica. (2017). gray wolf / mammal. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/animal/gray-wolf [Accessed 29 Nov. 2017].