The ARTIC WOLF

By Matthew Byrne

Introduction

The Artic Wolf lives in the Artic. The Arctic wolf is also known as the white wolf. There are approximately 200 wild Arctic wolves left in the world, and 50 in captivity.

They spend 5 out of 12 months in total darkness.

Appearance

The Artic Wolf looks like a big dog with short ears and a long tail. It has a white coat. They range from 1 to 1.8 meters in length, their shoulder height is about 60-80 centimetres.

Habitat

Its habitat is the Artic Tundra, it lives on land that is covered with ice and snow.

The Weather It Likes

The Artic Wolf likes snowy and cold weather.

How the Artic Wolf Adopts to its Environment?

It adapts to the cold weather using its very thick insulating coat to keep warm. They have shorter ears and a shorter muzzle to retain body heat.

Predator or Prey

They are top of the food chain and they are a predator and a carnivore.

However, Humans are in fact predators of Arctic wolves. Even though humans are the main predators of Arctic Wolves, they also have more predators. Some predators of the Arctic Wolf are Polar bears, Grizzlies, and other wolves.

Diet

The Artic Wolf eats birds, artic hares, caribou (a type of reindeer) and seals and muskox’s (looks like a buffalo see below). When they are eating, they ‘eat all around them’ as they do not know when their next meal will be.

Behaviour

They are a social animal and go around in groups or packs. They go around in a specific area and they mark their area with urine. There is normally an alpha male and alpha female that run the pack.

Basic Needs

They need food and water to survive and they need the pack to survive. Their cubs need them to feed them until they are old enough to hunt themselves.

Only the alpha male and alpha female can breed in the pack. They will only breed when hunting conditions are good. The female gives birth to two or three pups at a time, generally in the summer months.

How Has Climate Change Affected the Artic Wolf?

The Artic Wolf is a carnivore, so they eat meat, because of the extreme weather variations the animals they eat are in decline, so they find it harder to find animals to hunt. The muskox and hares feed on grasses and mosses, but due to climate change these feeding grounds have been disrupted by varying weather patterns. This causes a knock-on effect on the artic wolves and disrupts their food chain. Therefore, the populations of muskox and Arctic hares has declined in numbers. In turn, this has reduced the traditional food supply of the Arctic wolf.

Unlike other species of wolf, the Arctic wolf rarely comes into contact with humans so does not face the threat of hunting or persecution. However, the greatest threat to the Arctic wolf is climate change.

Other threats

Industrial development also poses a threat to the wolf, as an increasing number of mines, roads and pipelines encroach on the wolf’s territory, and interrupt its food supply.

Conclusion

The artic wolf is one of the animals that is under threat by climate change. If humans do not change their lifestyles and habits, they could face extinction.