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WOLF PACKS
The den, or lair, of a wolf may be a cave, a hollow tree trunk,
a thicket, or a hole in the ground dug by the wolf. In the spring, females have
litters of one to eleven pups. Adult wolves sometimes feed young pups by
regurgitating partly digested food for them. The pups normally stay with the
parents until the following winter but may remain much longer. Parents and young
constitute a basic pack, which establishes and defends a territory marked by
urine and feces. Larger packs may also assemble, particularly in the winter.
The pack leader is called the alpha male and
his mate is the alpha female. As social animals, wolves exhibit behavioral
patterns that clearly communicate dominance over or submission to one another.
The communal howling of a pack may serve to assemble its members, communicate
with other packs, advertise its territorial claims, or it may be simply a way of
expressing pleasure. Visual and scent signals are also important in
communication.
Although gray wolves are still abundant across northern Europe and Asia, only
remnant populations exist elsewhere in Europe. Their numbers in North America
also have been greatly diminished. They are fairly abundant only in Alaska and
Canada; smaller numbers exist in the Pacific Northwest and upper Midwest,
primarily in Minnesota. Under the Endangered Species Act, the gray wolf is
listed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as threatened in
Minnesota and as an endangered species elsewhere in the United States except
Alaska. The red wolf, also listed as endangered species, was the first species
for which the USFWS developed a recovery plan.
The decreasing numbers of wolves are the result of encroachments on their
territory by humans, who have long regarded wolves as competitors for prey and
as dangerous to livestock, pets, and people. However, few if any healthy wolves
have attacked humans, whom they instead try to avoid.
Wolves are valuable predators in the food web, and their decimation has led to
the overpopulation of certain other animal species in various areas.
"Wolf," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
LION
Social Organization
Among the most gregarious of the cats, lions associate in groups of one or more
family units called prides. A pride has 4 to 37 members. The females, which
represent several generations, rarely leave the pride. Male cubs stay in the
pride until they are expelled when a new group of males joins the pride. They
then roam about for several years, after which they begin to contend with rival
males to head a pride. Many males often remain nomadic, and even those that take
over a pride remain with the females for only a few months to a few years before
they leave on their own or are forced out by rivals. A pride frequently breaks
up into groups that later recombine into different assemblages of individuals.
The size of the territory that a lion pride works depends on the amount of
available prey in the territory, which may range in area from 20 to 400 sq km
(from 8 to 150 sq mi). Lions of both sexes maintain territories by leaving a
strong scent on bushes and by roaring to warn off wandering prides and nomadic
males.
Predatory Behavior
The prey of lions ranges from insects to giraffes; the animals prefer large
animals such as zebra. Hunting takes place in the evening and is primarily a
female activity. The lion cautiously stalks its prey and, once within close
range, runs it down in sprints reaching about 50 to 60 km/h (about 30 to 37
mph). The lion's great weight and momentum usually downs the prey, which is then
dispatched with a bite to the throat that suffocates the prey. After the female
has made a kill, the male comes to share the meat. Males may scare off females
in order to take some of the meat. A lion may eat 40 kg (88 lb) of meat at one
time and then go for over a week before the next kill.
"Lion," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
Andy the Hobo
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