Wolves and ravens are often seen together. Ravens like to eat meat from wolf hunts (up to half of the meat is eaten by ravens rather than wolves), but instead of having an antagonistic relationship with an animal that could be seen as stealing their food, wolves and ravens seem to share a mutual respect. Wolves will avoid killing ravens, and ravens help wolves as well; they can see prey from further away with their high vantage point, and will lead wolves toward it. They may also act as sentries, alerting wolves to incoming threats. Wolves, in turn, help ravens to eat meat from animals they could never take down on their own, and tear open carcasses too tough for ravens' beaks. Both wolves and ravens are highly intelligent and social animals. Even outside of hunting and eating, they often spend time together, engaging in play. Ravens will "prank" wolves by pulling their tails, and wolves will chase them without intent of hunting or killing them. Ravens will also play tug-of-war with wolf pups, or fly over them holding sticks, enticing them to jump up and grab them. There is some evidence that individual ravens and individual wolves even form personal connections between them, with ravens that played with a wolf when it was a pup following it if it leaves the pack once it matures.
Second Snow kisses hehe my little Rascal and her mate Jackrabbit. If I’m not binge playing wolfquest then I’m drawing it. The scar on Rascal’s face is from the first bear who tried to steal her pup Swan, luckily the two chased it off and saved him.
Wolves shed their thick undercoat once annually, in the Spring. It sheds in large patches rather than small tufts. The visual difference between a wolf's Winter and Summer coat is stark, and when a wolf has patches of both, it can look bizarre.
[ID: A photo of a pale colored gray wolf mid-shed. It is standing in a turning position, with its hind legs facing away from the camera, its forelegs in profile, and its head almost in the opposite profile as it is turned around to look behind itself. It has a rough, almost mangy-looking coat, with clumps of long woolly fur next to patches of very short smooth fur. /end ID]
Lifespan: Average lifespan is between 6 to 8 years, in captivity they live up to 17 years
Reproduction: They mate once a year, generally in early spring. The gestation period for these wolves is about 63 days and they will then give birth to a litter of four to seven pups on average.
Diet: elk, deer boar, livestock like sheeps and cows, and when food is scarce, smaller mammals, reptiles, insects, and fruits or berries.
Habitat: North America, Europe, Asia, as far north as the Canadian Arctic, to as far south as India. Due to their wide geographical variance, they also live in an abundance of different biomes like Arctic tundras, dense forests, mountains, and dry shrubland.
Status: Least Concern
Summary: Grey Wolves, also known as Timberwolves, are excellent hunters. Their long, powerful legs mean they can run up to 38 mph in sprinting bursts but more often than not trot at a speed of 5 mph. They use their speed to marathon hunt prey, chasing after their prey in slow pursuit until the prey gives out from exhaustion in which the wolves will then seize the opportunity and catch their prey, quickly killing it with their powerful jaws. Interestingly enough, the most well known part of wolves is that they live in packs! The pack normally consists of one monogamous breeding pair, their most recent litter, their pups from previous years and on rare occasions, other male and female wolves that are unrelated. The average pack size is 6 but they have been spotted in packs of 30 before. If a pack gets to a certain size, with involvement form outside wolves, there may be more than one breeding pair per pack.