Is an Animal a Wolf or a Wolf hybrid?

As you know, positive identification of a wolf is only possible through skull measurements once the animal is dead. But there are some distinctive phenotypic and behavioral characteristics that we look for when evaluating whether an animal is a wolf or wolf hybrid.These are:

Length of hair is an important clue. Wolves have a very characteristic long-hair mane and ruff. The mane starts at the back of the head and continues down the center of the back to the base of the tail. Dogs have even-length hair and with the possible exception of some huskies, they don't have a mane.
Wolves have pink/reddish colored hair between their toe pads. Their ears are short and erect.
Wolves have yellow eyes, large feet, long legs, a long muzzle and a slender chest. Wolves' tails hang straight down. They have a dense undercoat, even in the groin area.
There also is a wide variety of color in wild wolves, so it cannot be the sole determinant.

Finally, behavior is one of the biggest clues. Wolves are shy and avoid eye contact with humans other than their owner. They generally listen to and take commands only from their owner. They will leave the room or hide when a "new" person walks in.
Obviously, not every hybrid will exhibit all these qualities. The more of them exhibited, the more likely the animal has a high degree of wolf lineage.

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The mesmerising stare of a gray Wolf

Gray wolves communicate to each other through howling, body language and scent. Howling is used to assemble the pack, talk to other packs, assert territorial claims or as a source of pleasure. On a calm night, howls can be heard from as far as 120 miles away. Wolves use their faces and tails to indicate their emotion and status in the pack. A pack marks its territory by urine and feces.

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Adopting a Gorilla makes a wonderful gift

If YOU love gorillas, a gorilla adoption makes a great gift, for yourself or someone you care
for Lowland Gorilla Mugaruka and his family are endangered Eastern Lowland gorillas, living in Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Gorillas may be powerful, but they are peaceful vegetarians and the close-knit family feed, rest and play together. They are led by Mugaruka, a young ‘silverback’ male who lost one hand when it was caught in a poacher’s wire snare.
Adopt Mugaruka and his family in other to help and protect them from poachers AND fund great ape protection worldwide.

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Keep us safe

Today there are only a few hundred Mountain Gorillas left. Under normal circumstances their situation has been fragile, but in the last two years, due to the war in Rwanda, the instability and hostilities made their situation critical
Gorillas death was possibly due to disease transmission from a human visitor, and underlined the importance of keeping our distance from the gorillas - where possible a minimum of five metres, and we were always very strict about our own health when visiting the gorillas. Inevitably, keeping a respectable distance was not always possible - working with them day after day, their initial curiosity gave way to a trusting relationship and the juveniles, in particular, accepted us as part of their environment. But whenever we approached the group, we always walked quietly, softly, often crawling through the vegetation on our hands and knees making our own interpretation of gorilla calming sounds when we were very close

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Wild Dogs at a kill

Just thinking of how interesting wildlife could be, so i decided to let you know that i love their activity. SO hang in a little while, with what you are about to see

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Thought of the day

Once upon a time , there was a riddle in this land that goes thus" out of the strong, came something sweet, out of the eater came something to eat".Could you imagine how beautiful a cheetah could be?This is a quality that distinguishes it from most wildlife. This would go a long way of being useful to human life.Therefore, in any bad situation, never dwell on the negative but fill you mind with something good. Enjoy!

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The only cat that cannot completely retract its claws.

The Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is an atypical member of the cat family (Felidae) that hunts by sight and speed rather than by stealth. It is the fastest of all terrestrial animals and can reach speeds of over 110 km/h in short bursts.
The cheetah's body is svelte and muscular, though it seems slender and almost fragile in build. Its chest is deep and its waist narrow. It has a small head and short muzzle, high-placed eyes, large nostrils, and small round ears. The fur of the cheetah is fauve yellow with round black spots and black tear lines on the sides of the muzzle. The adult animal weighs from 39 to 65 kg. Its total body length is from 112 to 135 cm, while the tail can measure up to 84 cm.

The genus name, Acinonyx, means "no-move-claw" in Greek, while the species name, jubatus, means "maned" in Latin, a reference to the mane found in Cheetah cubs. It is the only cat that cannot completely retract its claws. Even when retracted, the claws remain visible and are used for grip during the cheetah's acceleration and maneuvering.
The English word "cheetah" comes from Hindi chiitaa, which is perhaps derived from Sanskrit chitraka, meaning "the spotted one". Other major European languages use variants of the medieval Latin gattus pardus, meaning "cat-leopard": French guépard; Italian ghepardo; Spanish guepardo; and German Gepard.

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Great communicators

If you’ve watched domestic dogs play, you already know something about how wolves communicate. Within a wolf pack, communicating successfully with each other is key to every member’s survival and well-being. Like dogs, they may bare their teeth and growl if they are angry or upset. They hold their tails high as a sign of leadership, and lower their bodies and tails in front of another pack member to show submission. Ears flattened back against the wolf’s face means it is afraid or cautious. Wolf packs also follow the cues of the head male and female, called the alphas. In any pack there is only one alpha male and female, and only these wolves have pups. The alphas are usually the oldest and strongest members of the pack and organize the pack to hunt as a group.

Wolves, like many other animals, also communicate by scent marking: leaving their urine and feces on trees or rocks where other wolves will find it. There are many research studies going on to determine what these "messages" mean. One of the best-known ways wolves communicate is by howling. No one knows for sure all the ways that wolves use this communication tool. Some researchers believe wolves howl for fun, as well as to announce their presence to each other or start a hunt

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The myth of the wild dog

There are many stories of wolves being just "wild dogs" that could be tamed. While wolves and dogs do share many biological traits, they are very different from each other. The dogs we have as pets have been bred to be gentle companion animals to humans. Wolves are still wild animals and should be treated as such. Sometimes wolves and dogs interbreed, and the pups are called wolf hybrids. However, these hybrids usually do not make good pets. There is another myth that some breeds of dog, like the husky, are part wolf. But huskies are just another breed of domestic dog, like a poodle or a golden retriever.

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Fun facts!...wolf howiling .

• Wolves can travel long distances at a regular trot of about five miles per hour (eight kilometers per hour). They are much quicker when they hunt. Wolves can also travel far from their home pack and their regular territory in search of food—sometimes hundreds of miles (kilometers).
• There is no record of a healthy wolf ever eating a human being.
• Even though usually only the alpha male and female have pups, all of the wolf pack’s members take care of the youngsters. They bring them food, play with them, and also act as "baby sitters."
• Wolves love to play when they have the chance. They start with a play bow and have
been seen tossing "toys" to each other like bones, branches, or animal skins

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Racing with The Cheetah requires enough stamina

The Cheetah, as the fastest land animal, is of course, the fastest cat and has been recorded achieving speeds of 96+ km/h (60 mph). Cheetahs also reach their top speed very quickly, meaning they have very rapid acceleration. One animal in Kenya was recorded on video accelerating from a standing start to 90 km/h in only 3 seconds. However even the Cheetah can only maintain such a speed for very short distances and after 500 metres it is exhausted. Most chases in the wild last for less than 20 seconds during which time the animal covers between 200 to 300 metres.

The Cheetah pays a heavy price for its speed, building up a large oxygen debt in its muscles and risking serious over heating on it longest sprints. After a 30 second chase it can take a cheetah 20 minutes to recover its breath, (breathing rates can be as high as 150 per minute after a run as compared with 15 per minute for a normal resting animal), and expend its excess body heat, during which time it is unable to feed on the carcass (assuming the chase was successful) and must risk having it stolen by hyenas, leopards or lions.

Although other cats can sprint fairly quickly for short distances if necessary the Cheetah is the only cat specifically designed for chasing its prey. Other cats have evolved to catch slower prey, or to hunt primarily by stealth and surprise, or patience.

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The History of cats...what poeple think of this family

The archaeological evidence suggests that the cat lineage branched off from the ancestral Miacoidea (the stem group of all the Carnivora) about 45 million years ago (MYA). More modern cats, recognisably similar to our present day species, began to emerge about 25 MYA and during the last 12 million years the eight separate lineages of modern cats have emerged.
This world we live on is currently graced with the presence of 36 species of cat, see table below. (The number of species varies from 36 to 39 depending on which cat expert you consult, however 36 species is the number recognised by both CITES and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre so it is the number I have used here.)The individual size range within any given species of cat increases the larger the cat becomes and is also correlated with both its sex and with the width of its north south distribution range, with individuals being larger the further they live from the equator. Thus the weight of an adult tiger, the largest of our cats, can range from 75 Kg to 320 kg and its 'head and body length' can range from 1.45 metres to 3.18 metres. (Exceptional individuals have exceeded these normal ranges)

Therefore there is considerable overlap between species and the largest lions, jaguars and pumas can outsize the smallest tigers, nevertheless no other cat gets as large as the largest Siberian Tigers which are by far the most massive of the several subspecies of tiger currently recognised.
With such variation within species, and a very small data set for the smaller species, it is also hard to definitively nominate a smallest species. The two highest contenders must be the Rusty-spotted Cat and the Black-footed Cat both of which can weigh as little as 1.0 kg when adult. The small amount of information I have suggests that, on average, the Rusty-spotted Cat is the title holder, and this is confirmed by the Guinness Book of Animal Records.

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Exploring the world of cats

Dear readers, i came across these unique character about thia Cat and i thought it would be nice to share it with you.
Cats, with the notable exception of lions and to a lesser extent domestic cats, are habitually solitary, however they are sometimes are found in pairs (either m/m, f/f or m/f) or larger groups consisting of a single adult female and her immature young. Three quarters of cat species live in forests and many prefer a dense undergrowth that helps them approach their prey unseen. All cats can climb and swim and many are excellent at both these activities. Cats are digitigrade, meaning they walk on their toes (digits).

Cats reach sexual maturity anywhere between the ages of 7 to 9 months in the Domestic Cat, the Bobcat and the Black-footed Cat or 3 to 4 years as in the Lion and the Tiger. The females of most species are polyestrous and the spacing of litters is related to the animals size, the length of time it takes the young to mature and the habitat it lives in. Thus the Domestic Cat may have 3 litters a year and the Sand Cat may have 2, while the larger cats normally have only one litter every 2 years, most cats however have 1 litter a year providing they have enough to eat.
Gestation periods vary 56-115 days have been reported, and litter size is usually between 1 and 6 young. At birth the kittens are usually blind and helpless but are covered in hair and often spotted, even if they are not spotted as adults. They remain with their mother until they can hunt for themselves. The potential longevity for most cats is probably at least 15 years, and some individuals have lived over 30 years. Nevertheless, in the wild most cats die, or are killed, before they reach sexual maturity.

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Wild Cats are not pets at all

Everybody knows what a cat is, once you have seen a single adult cat you can instantly recognise nearly every other species as being closely related. The possible exceptions to this are the Jaguarundi and the Manul as well as the Flat-headed Cat and perhaps the Kodkod, however once you look closely at even these exceptional species you soon see their cat genes at work. A house cat, although small and domesticated, is a Jaguar, a Tiger or a Leopard in miniature, their beauty, grace and fluidity of movement have brought great joy to mankind for thousands of years.

Cats are the essential hunters, their combination of power, speed and patience make them the ultimate killers, at least as far as terrestrial animals are concerned. As hunters ourselves we have always admired them and the freedom of their individuality. Cats are the most purely carnivorous of all the mammals. An adult domestic cat requires a minimum of 12% protein in its diet, whereas an adult domestic dog can survive quite well on a diet that contains only 4% protein.

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Predicted Polar bear decline (part one)

SEATTLE, July 6 -- As the pack ice that is the bedrock of their existence melts because of global warming, polar bears are facing unprecedented environmental stress that will cause their numbers to plummet, according to a report by a panel of the world's leading experts on the species.
In a closed meeting here late last month, 40 members of the polar bear specialist group of the World Conservation Union concluded that the imposing white carnivores -- the world's largest bear -- should now be classified as a "vulnerable" species based on a likely 30 percent decline in their worldwide population over the next 35 to 50 years. There are now 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears across the Arctic.
"The principal cause of this decline is climatic warming and its consequent negative affects on the sea ice habitat of polar bears," according to a statement released after the meeting. Scientists from five countries, including the United States, attended the meeting.
"All of the evidence is heading in the same direction, and the trend is dramatic," said Scott Schliebe, who led the Seattle meeting and is polar bear project leader in Alaska for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "In a shrinking ice environment, the ability of the bears to find food, to reproduce and to survive will all be reduced."
Via:Washingtonpost

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Polar world -a place where Bears live in peace

Here you'll find everything you need to know about Polar Bears. Visit our Polar Bear Faq Section to read all about Polar Bears and their lives in the arctic. Be sure to check out all of the Polar Bear pictures you'll see through out the site. Also you can read the Polar Bear Project section to see an example of a report done on Polar Bears by a young student. You can send in your Polar Bear reports as well, and I'll post them on the site. Check out our three Polar Bear Picture Galleries to see all types of Polar Bear Pictures. You can also visit Binky the Polar Bear or the Polar Bear Word Find for some Polar Bear Games.

Please feel free to E-mail me any stions or comments by clicking on any of the E-mail Links you see. If you have time, be sure to check out all of the cool Polar Bear awards this site has won along with a brief statement on why Polar World was created. We have also just added a Polar Bear Contest to Polar World. Just click on the link below for entry guidelines and join in on the fun!!! Have a Polariffic Day, and enjoy these Polar Bears

A point you need to know about bears

Polar bears have fur that is made up of "hollow guard hairs." Sometimes when polar bears live
in zoos that are in a warmer climate, they can have algae growing inside the hollow guard hairs of their fur. This makes them have a greenish tint to their fur. These hollow hairs also keep their hair from matting down when they swim in water.

Do polar bears stay in groups?

Polar bears are usually solitary except for female-cub groups, during mating season, and at abundant food sources.
Do polar bears hibernate?
Pregnant females den up for winter but do not hibernate. All polar bears may den temporarily to avoid bad weather.
How do polar bears swim?

They dog-paddle with their head and much of their back above water. Their blubber helps to float them as they swim. They can swim at an average of 6 miles per hour.

How do polar bears catch seals when they live under the ice?

Polar bears find a seal air hole and sneak up on it slowly and sit there until a seal comes up to breathe and then they scoop him right out of the hole.
How do the native arctic people benefit from the polar bear?

Polar bear hide is very useful it can be used as clothing, rugs, and blankets. The hollow guard hairs of the polar bear fur can be sold for fly tying. Polar bear meat can also be eaten.

VIA:library.thinkquest.

Suspense in Grizzly Bear hunt

Three-year ban meant to assess population size.Alberta's grizzly bear hunt has been cancelled for the first time after the province announced a three-year moratorium Friday.The move comes four years after scientists and environmentalists began calling for the government to halt the annual hunt.

They say the animals' survival in Alberta is in peril. The province had maintained there were enough grizzlies to sustain a small hunt.On Friday, however, the government said it doesn't have a reliable estimate of how many grizzlies remain in Alberta, and it is suspending the hunt until 2009.

At that time, the province expects to have a population count. A decision on whether to reinstate the hunt will be made then.For now, the grizzly will remain a big game animal and won't be classified as threatened, a recommendation made to the government in 2002.Hunters have been restricted from targeting female grizzlies, but of the 10 bears killed by hunters last year, four were females; the year before, two of the six killed were females.

Grizzly bears don't produce many cubs. Females are generally not sexually mature until they are seven years old. When they do mate, they have just one to four cubs.Scientists and environmentalists believe the population is dangerously low -- no more than 700.
Source: © The Calgary Herald 2006
How many grizzly bear lives are lost each year ?
Via:rocky-peak

Share my new discovery

Black Bears are more and more common in the eastern United States, where they are learning to live at the edges of suburbs. They are not dangerous as long as you keep away from them. Although they are carnivores, Black Bears eat very little meat. Instead, they live on grasses and other plants in spring, fruits and berries in summer, and nuts and acorns in fall. Black Bears head for a den in October and sleep much of the winter but they do not enter the deep phase of true hibernation.Look For: A large black long-legged bear. Moves much faster than you might think.

Black Bears are more and more common in the eastern United States, where they are learning to live at the edges of suburbs. They are not dangerous as long as you keep away from them. Although they are carnivores, Black Bears eat very little meat. Instead, they live on grasses and other plants in spring, fruits and berries in summer, and nuts and acorns in fall. Black Bears head for a den in October and sleep much of the winter but they do not enter the deep phase of true hibernation.Look For: A large black long-legged bear. Moves much faster than you might think.

Related Species:

Grizzly Bear Ursus arctos

Polar Bear Ursus maritimus
Length: Body 4-6' long, 3-4' high; tail 3-7" long; 200-600 lb.Habitat: Forests, swamps, and parklands near eastern suburbs.
Range: Most of Alaska and Canada. South to California, Nevada, and through the Rocky Mts. in the West. South to the Great Lakes, New England, and in mountains and coastal regions to Florida and Louisiana in the East. Also in Arkansas and southeastern Oklahoma.

Something interesting about polar bears

Polar Bears could also have some character exhibition that you love if you would give them a chance.could you imagine being out there with a polar bear in a soccer game? You had better believed it. They could perform the duty of a pet for example, Dog, by being a friend and companoin.I would encourage you to adopt one and feel these effects.Highly situable for Animal lovers.

The Grizzly Man {part two}

I read this story and i thought to share it with you!

Timothy has made my life difficult, both while he was alive and after he died. Before he was killed, he tried zealously to undermine my credibility. Some years ago I had offended him by writing in my book Grizzly Heart that he did not carry pepper spray nor use electric fencing around his tent to protect himself there. I did not say this was wrong, only that I did things differently. Of course in hindsight I was too easy on him. There seemed little doubt to me that camping on major bear tails in thick bush was putting him at the mercy of a possible transient bear that he would not have built any kind of trusting relationship with. He had told me that he occasionally encountered bears that scared him so I had asked the question – “why would you not take the precautions that we both knew would work?” He angrily told me that he was essentially a trespasser in their territory and therefore he did not want to hurt them in any way. In answer to this I confronted him with the possibility that his death could undo everything that he and others were trying to change in people’s attitude towards bears. Only a few months after our unpleasant exchange I found myself experiencing everything I had dreaded.


I got on a plane to Alaska a few hours after I heard that Timothy and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were dead. I wanted to make sure that I personally understood as much as I could about what had happened. In the past I had found that for political reasons, in situations such as this, the whole story was often not reviled. As it turned out, however, there was not much to guess about. As Timothy was scrambling out of his tent to deal with a bear close to his tent, his camera had accidentally been turned on, leaving an exact and very gruesome audio record of their deaths. Before it happened both of them had talked and wrote about a bear who had given them every indication that he might be dangerous. As it had turned out either an electric fence and/or pepper spray would have saved them.

hang on for the continuation of the story.Dont miss it.

The Grizzly Man

Perhaps many people wonder why I have not commented before now in defense of Timothy Treadwell or maybe try to distance myself from him. I initially did not consider defending Timothy, I just wanted the whole thing to fade into oblivion with him, but in reality this kind of story will inevitably become part of the grizzly mythology that so many people love. I have struggled with his death and voiced my frustration privately with some people, including a Russian friend. She was horrified that I would speak negatively about a dead acquaintance, insisting that Russians do not do that. I didn’t wholly believe her, but her admonishment was another excuse to remain quiet. Now people insist that I comment. This is my response.


There were many people who saw the probability of Timothy Treadwell dying. Many of these people hated Timothy for suggesting that bears were animals that deserved less violent treatment than our hunting culture allows them. Some literally cheered when he was killed by the animal that he loved and so passionately tried to defend. They use his death as proof that bears can never be trusted and that brown bear numbers and range must always be controlled and governed by harsh dominance.