Humans have lived for wolves for as long as we’ve been around. With the Canis species going back seven million years, it’s no wonder they’ve captivated the minds of our ancestors and us today. From domesticating wolves around fifteen thousand to forty thousand years ago to the countless works of fiction and folklore we’ve made surrounding the wolf, it’s clear that we’re a little obsessed.
Butting Heads
It’s not just our respect for wolves that have made an impact for thousands of years, we also butted heads with wolves first as our ancestors had to fight them off as predators, but eventually, when we started farming, they became a nuisance. Wolves killed an estimated 3,800 livestock between 2014 to 2015.
Once Posing A Threat
Wolves have also posed a danger to men, women, and children in the past. In the mid-18th century, over one hundred people in the former province of Gévaudan in France were killed by what people believed to be a wolf or wolf pack. This event sparked superstition as to what the animal was.
Not Much Of A Danger Anymore
But in the modern world, wolves are much less of a predator to humans. A study showed that between 2002 and 2020, only 25 people were killed in wolf attacks. Fourteen of them only died because they were infected by rabies. But which wolves are the biggest? And which are roaming the U.S. right now and may be closer than you think?
1. Red Wolf
The red wolf (Canis rufus) is as beautiful as rare. The animal is critically endangered, and only an estimated seventeen can be found in the wilds of North Carolina. Another 241 are in captivity across the United States. The wolf is large and weighs around 50 to 85 pounds, making it the smallest in the United States.
2. Mexican Gray Wolf
The Mexican gray wolf is a subspecies of gray wolf and is only larger than its crossbred cousin, the red wolf, weighing 60 – 82 pounds. The animal can be identified by its narrow skull and lives in the southern part of the United States, where the climate is warmer.
3. Eastern Wolf
The eastern wolf lives around the Great Lakes and parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. They are bigger than the smallest Mexican gray wolf at 60 – 66 pounds. They hunt in packs and prey on elk, deer, and rodents. With less than 500 species, they are considered a threatened species.
4. Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf
The northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf roams the western part of the United States, including Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and Utah. The species can weigh 70 to 150 pounds, which puts it ahead of the eastern wolf.
5. Arctic Wolf
The Arctic wolf has a striking visual appearance, normally being completely white. They are the only subspecies of wolves whose populations aren’t threatened and roam in Alaska. They weigh between 70 and 175 pounds and prefer to stay in remote regions of the state.
6. Northwestern Wolf
The northwestern wolf, also called the Alaskan timber wolf, is very social and lives in packs of 6-12 members. The average male wolf weighs 93 pounds, and humans relocated some populationsto Yellowstone National Park, where they’ve been thriving and feeding off the elk.
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Types of Wolves Around the World
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