Wolf Pack in Famine

In previous articles, we focused on wolf pack ways and the development of the wolf pups into quite efficient predators. These glimpses into wild wolf society help us understand the wild dog behavior and other dog instinctive behavior (both good and bad) that we observe in our pets. As we feed our domestic dogs and tend to make them a part of our "human pack" rather than a dog pack, we do not recognize some of the harder times in the cycles of wild wolf society. There is no question, though - The life of a wild wolf is hard!

On average, only one in ten hunts is successful. This amazes me, because the wild wolf is such an efficient predator.

The same pattern repeats itself over and over. Feast and Famine The famine happens because the deer, moose, and caribou eat themselves out of house and home and are forced to migrate. This vastly cuts down on what the wild wolves will be able to consume.

Wild wolves adjust to the lack of abundance. They hunt mice, rabbits, and almost any kind of animal they can find. Many of the adults die. The pack has few or no pups. They wait until the famine is past. To conceive pups when food is not abundant is almost surely a death sentence for the pups, and in some cases for the mother as well.

Some pity the wild wolves because their main food source abandons the area. But think of this. If there were no famine, there would be too many predators and not enough prey! The resulting over population of predators would lead to more misery, starvation, death. The cycle would repeat.

Interestingly, it is not uncommon for wild wolves to play "wolf pranks," especially during times of famine. For example, they will sometimes play with groups of ground squirrels instead of killing them. They might chase a herd of musk ox for the thrill of it. You can always tell when a wolf pack is after the musk ox herd because, when the wolves are only playing chase, the musk oxen continue grazing and just stand there. When the wolves intend to hunt them, the oxen form a circle.

In hunting, wild wolves weed out the old and sick from the herd. A single wild wolf can bring down a moose or caribou on his own. They will also feed on the carcasses of the moose (and other grazing animals) that have died of natural causes. It is their natural instinct to eat the recently dead things. They will boldly dine without fear on a recent kill made by a grizzly bear.

Even in times of famine, wolves do not always steal from their neighbors. They will sometimes ignore a small animal dropped by a bird of prey who fears wolves. It is not uncommon for a wolf pack to eat an animal carcass down until only the antlers and a few bones remain. Pregnant herbivores (moose, caribou, etc.) chew on the antlers for the calcium in them, so the entire cycle is very efficient.

As is evident here, the wild wolf has a much harder life than most people would like to believe. The wild wolf society should be respected and continue to be studied, because there is yet so much that we do not know about this magnificent animal.