Wolf - a predatory animal of Yakutia

Currently, the problems of protecting the animal world of the region have expanded and to increase the level of careful and conscious attitude of the population towards mammals, knowledge of their biology and ecology has become an urgent need.

I am interested in the life of animals in the wild. I read a lot of books about animals, watch TV shows about them. People like to observe the habits of different animals. Today I want to share my research about wolves in my native region of Yakutia. I decided to learn about the nature of these animals and tell everyone about how wolves live and survive throughout Yakutia. That's why I chose this topic.

Wolves are ferocious and dangerous animals, but they very rarely attack people. Like all predators, they hunt to feed themselves and try to stay away from people. Wolves live throughout Yakutia, including the islands of the Arctic Ocean. They hunt small and large mammals.

Wolves belong to one of the groups of the order of predatory mammals - the canine or canine family. In Yakutia it is represented by 4 families, 12 genera, 18 species.

Appearance. A proportionally built animal with relatively high legs and a fluffy, drooping tail. Because of the high withers, the wolf's head is slightly lowered. The head is large, the eyes are small yellow, the ears are small, triangular in shape with a sharp apex, and the neck is thick. The chest is large, deeply deflated, the stomach is tucked. The color varies from whitish-gray to reddish-yellow. Often there is a dark stripe on the back, the underside and legs are lighter. There are two subspecies in Yakutia: the common or timber wolf. They differ mainly in the structure and color of the fur. At the same time, the polar wolf has a lighter, often almost white color. The male and female are similar in color, but the male is larger.

Body length of males - 105-146 cm, females - 97-136 cm, tail length of males - 40-49 cm, females - 41-46 cm. Body weight of males - 20.3-52.1 kg, females - 25.2-36 kg. Shoulder height 80-85 cm.

Features of the structure of teeth; the dentition is very powerful, the carnassial teeth are massive, the canines are relatively low, but with a wide base. There are 4 premolar teeth on each side of the upper jaw. The upper carnassial tooth has 3 roots, its internal lobe is small and located at the pre-internal edge.

Distribution and abundance. Inhabits the entire territory of Yakutia, including the islands of the Arctic Ocean.

Estimated wolf numbers in 1963-64. was 500-700 individuals, in the 1980s - 2 thousand, 1985 - 2 thousand, 1992 - 5 thousand, 1993 - 5 thousand, 1995 - 10 thousand, 1996 - 18.8 thousand, 1997 - 13.9 thousand, 1998 - 13.6 thousand individuals.

Lifestyle and habitat. Lives in a variety of landscapes. The habitat and time it stays in the same area often depends on the availability and abundance of food. In the second half of winter, the location may depend on the depth of the snow cover, and in the spring and summer - on the availability of a convenient place to build a den. The tundra zone is characterized by seasonal movements of wolves associated with the mass migration of deer, their main food.

A typical predator, distinguished by its special endurance and intelligence. With the exception of the breeding season, it leads a gregarious lifestyle. A flock, as a rule, consists of family members, parents with a brood, and they can be joined by individuals from last year's brood - the new arrivals. They are mainly active at night, and usually stay close to their next victim during the day. The flock often makes its presence known by howling at night. It is believed that wolves howl to exchange the most important information for themselves. The hunting area of the pack is located within a fairly large area, within which there is a den of the parents. The winter border of the pack's hunting area in Yakutia is at least 35 km in radius. The maximum speed that a wolf can develop over short distances reaches 50-60 km/h and it easily catches up with a white hare. The length of the jumps reaches 3.5-4.5 meters.

It is known from other regions that wolves live a maximum of 15-20 years, but already at 10-12 years old they show signs of old age.

Food. It obtains food by active search followed by a rush over short distances of hundreds of meters or with a long pursuit over a distance of several kilometers. Wolves also use the raid method, when some chase and others wait. The basis of the wolf's winter diet is ungulates: in the tundra - wild and domestic deer, in the taiga zone - elk, roe deer, musk deer, bighorn sheep and wapiti. A pack of wolves often attacks herds of horses. During years of high abundance of the white hare, it becomes one of the wolves’ main food items throughout the year. It rarely catches upland game and does not disdain carrion. In the summer, its diet becomes more varied, and the role of mouse-like rodents increases significantly. In winter, as a rule, it is returned to the half-eaten victim, sometimes after many days.

Reproduction. Females become sexually mature by the end of the second or beginning of the third year of life, males participate in reproduction from 3-4 years of age. Before the start of the rut, wolf packs break up. The rut occurs in March. During the rut, several males accompany the female. It is known from other regions that the females' estrus lasts approximately two weeks. From time to time, fierce fights occur between males, sometimes leading to their death. The resulting pair of wolves remains for life, usually until the death of one of them.

Wolves make their lair in the most remote areas, as a rule, on dry steep banks and hillocks. It represents a hole 1.5-5 m deep, sometimes with two exits. One hole can be used for a number of years, sometimes with interruptions. In the tundra, arctic fox burrows and rock crevices are often used for dens.

Wolf cubs appear in May - and early June. It is known from other regions that pregnancy lasts 62-75 days. There are usually 3-8 puppies in a litter. The weight of newborns is 300-500g. Eyes open on days 9 - 12. Three-week-old wolf cubs begin to crawl out of the hole, and one-and-a-half-month-old cubs quickly scatter and hide when in danger. The mother feeds them with milk for about 1.5 months, but from the age of three weeks the wolf cubs are fed by the burps of their parents. From 3-4 months of age, parents stop feeding burps, and along with meat, they often bring dented but live prey. Since September, wolf cubs have been participating in adult hunts.

After the birth, the male feeds the brood and the female for some time. Later, the wolf cubs are fed and trained by both parents.

When hunters take wolf cubs from their den, the parents do not protect their offspring, they just stay nearby, usually without showing themselves to people.

Enemies and parasites. It has practically no enemies. Of the helminths, MuIticeps seriaIis and Taenia macrocystis are noted. In the tundra, cases of wolves suffering from “wildness” are known. It is known from other regions that wolves are the main reservoir of the rabies virus in nature, but the number of people who develop rabies from wolf bites is 27-44 times less than from dog bites.

Practical significance. Object of hunting. Year-round extermination hunting is permitted. The skin is handed over to procurement organizations, and a bonus is given for the harvested animal. The wolf causes significant damage to reindeer and horse breeding farms and wild ungulates. For example, from 1954 to 1958 in Yakutia, 24 thousand domestic reindeer were killed by wolves. It is known that one wolf kills an average of 12 moose and deer during the winter alone.

The scale of wolf hunting is as follows: in 1958-1964 in Yakutia, an average of 144 individuals were caught per year. In 1987, 619 were mined, in 1988 - 486, in 1989. - 556.1990 -328, 1991-282, 1992-391, 1993-221, 1994-361, 1995-736, 1996-1232, 1997-1186, 1998-1104 wolves.

The main methods of hunting are shooting from airplanes and helicopters, catching large numbers with traps in the trail or under the trail: in the summer - finding a den with wolf cubs. A drag is attached to the chains of the traps. In the past, poison baits were widely used using poisons such as strychnine and barium fluoroacetate. Since 1995, hypnotic substances (luminal and other barbiturates) have also been used. Wolves are also successfully caught using snares with or without a trap. The diameter of the loop is 50-80 cm, the lower edge of the loop is 40-50 cm from the ground surface.

Main population limiting factors. Year-round extermination hunt.

In a number of other countries around the world, the wolf is included in the IUCN Red List.

Similar species. It differs from the fox in color, large size, less fluffy and short tail. It differs from huskies in color, large size and manner of holding it down.

The footprint of a wolf differs from that of a dog in its large size and in the fact that the wolf’s toes spread out less during its walk; the prints of the front paws leave traces of only 4 toes. When a flock moves, the animals follow the trail in single file. By the manner of urination, a male and a female are distinguished; the male urinates on the side of the trail, the female on the trail.

Wolf Hunt

In the vicinity of our village in 2007, wolf attacks on herds of horses became more frequent, causing great losses to agriculture. In this regard, the general council of the village decided to exterminate the pack of predatory wolves.

More than 30 men from the village went hunting. After a long pursuit, 5 wolves were killed. Of these, 3 are females and 2 are males aged 3-5 years. Each of them weighed about 90 kg, height was about 120 centimeters.

A year later, several lone wolves were exterminated from the same area by village hunters.

All wolf skins were handed over to the state.

I first saw wolves at my neighbors’ place, although I was very scared of the dead ones. They looked like big dogs. But along with fear, I felt pity for these predators.