Gray wolf or gray wolf (Canis lupus) is a species of canid native to the desert and remote areas in North America, Eurasia, and North Africa. This is the largest member of the family, with males on average 43-45 kg (95-99 lb), and females 36 to 38.5 kg (79-85 lb). This is similar in general appearance and proportions of the German shepherd, or sled dog, but has a large head, narrow chest, long legs, large vertical tail and claws. Wool long winter and heavy, and most of the gray-colored speckled, although almost pure white, red, or dark brown also occur.
In the genus Canis, gray wolf is a more specific and progressive smaller cousin (the coyote and wolf gold), as indicated by morphological adaptations for hunting large prey, is more like his friends and a very advanced expressive behavior. This is a social animal, traveling in the nuclear family consisting of a mated pair, accompanied by the couple's adult children. Gray wolf is a predator usually peak around the area, with only humans and tigers posing a serious threat to it. Feed primarily on large ungulates, although also eat small animals, livestock, carrion, and garbage.
Gray wolf is one of the world's most animal well examined, the books may be more written about it than any other species of wildlife. This has a long history of contact with the man, who was hated and hunted in the agricultural community for his attacks on livestock, while otherwise respected by some Native American tribes. This is a single ancestor dogs, the first didomestikasi in the Middle East. Despite prevailing fear of wolves in many human societies, most attacks have been recorded on the animal suffering associated with rabies.
Non-rabid wolves are attacking and killing people, especially children, but this is not normal, such that relatively few wolves, stay away from the people, and have been taught to fear humans by hunters and shepherds. Hunting and traps have reduced the range of the species to around third, although coverage is still relatively broad and stable population means that the species is not threatened at the global level, and therefore classified by the IUCN as Least Concern.
Gray wolf is an animal, well-knit with slim rib, very large down and leaning back. Stomach pulled in, and the muscular neck. Legs long and strong, with a relatively small distance. Front feet have five toes each, while the hind feet have four. Forelimbs that seem pressed into the chest, with elbows pointing inwards, and legs to the outside, allowing good front and rear legs on the same side to swing in the same line. Legs long enough wolves than other Canids.
This allows the animal to move fast, and allows to overcome the thick snow covering much of the geographical area. Women tend to have a narrow snout and forehead, thin neck, slightly shorter legs and less massive shoulders than males. Compared with the smaller cousin (the coyote and golden jackal), gray wolf bigger and heavier, with a wider nose, short ears, a shorter torso and long tail.
Gray wolf head is large and heavy, with wide foreheads, strong jaws and snout, long blunt. Ears relatively small and triangular. Teeth are heavy and large, are better suited to bone crushing than Canidae is still there, even though not specifically as found in hyenas. Strong canine teeth and relatively short (26 mm). Wolves can do 1,500 lbf/in2 pressure may crush compared with 750 lbf/in2 for German shepherds. This style is enough to break most of the bones. In cold weather, wolves can reduce blood flow near the skin to retain body heat. Warmth footpads arranged independently from the rest of the body, and maintained at just above the freezing point of the network, where the pads come in contact with ice and snow.
Gray wolves usually take head on the same level as the back, increasing only when the reminder. This usually travel at speeds loping, putting one foot directly in front of the other. This pace can be maintained for hours at the 8-9 km / hour, and allows the wolves to cover a great distance. On the street naked, wolves can quickly reach speeds of 50-60 km / hour. Hold a wolf running low and tilt the head slightly to one side, directing one ear to the other sides. This posture allows the wolf to continue to capitalize on the extraordinary hearing.
Gray wolves are the largest extant members of the Canidae, except for certain large domestic dog race. Gray wolf weight and size can vary around the world, tends to increase proportionally with latitude as predicted by Bergmann rule, with large Alaskan and Canadian wolves sometimes 3-6 times more weight than those Middle East and Asia southern cousins. On average, adult wolf size 105-160 cm (41-63 in) long and 80-85 cm (32-34 in) in shoulder height. The tail is ⅔ length of head and body, measuring 29-50 cm (11-20 in) long. The ears are 90-110 millimeters (3.5 to 4.3 in) in height, and the hind legs is 220-250 mm. Skull average 9-11 inches long, and 5-6 inches. Weight varies geographically wolf, on average, European wolves may weigh 38.5 kilograms (85 pounds), North American wolves 36 kilograms (79 pounds) and Indian and Arabian wolves 25 kilograms (55 pounds). Women in a given wolf population typically weigh 5-10 lbs less than males.
Wolves weighing more than 54 kg (120 lbs) are rare, though very large individuals have been recorded in Alaska, Canada, and the Soviet Union. The heaviest gray wolf recorded in North America lost on 70 Mile River in east-central Alaska on July 12, 1939 and weighed 79.4 kilograms (175 pounds), while the heaviest recorded wolf in Eurasia lost after World War II in Kobeliaky, Poltavskij District, Ukrainian SSR, and weighed 86 kilograms (190 pounds).
Gray wolves once the world's most numerous mammals distributed, after humans and lions, who lives across the northern part of the northern hemisphere from 15 ° N latitude in North America and 12 ° N in India. Deliberate human persecution have reduced the range of the species to around third, because predasi livestock and fear over attacks on humans. This species is now extinct in most of Western Europe, in Mexico and much of the United States. In modern times, the gray wolf is especially likely in the wilderness and remote areas, particularly in Canada, Alaska, and the northern United States, Europe, and Asia from around 75 ° N to 12 ° N.
Wolf population decline has been arrested since the 1970s, and has helped the development of recolonization and Reintroduksi in the range of containers, because of legal protection, land-use change and shift of rural population to the towns people. Competition with humans for livestock and game species, the concern over the dangers posed by wolves to the people, and habitat fragmentation poses a continuing threat to the species. Despite the threat, the gray wolf ranges are very wide and stable population means that the species is not threatened at the global level, and therefore classified by the IUCN as Least Concern.