Knowing these fun and important facts about Wolves will have you howling with laughter as you become the leader of the fact pack! We trawled the forests of Asia, North America and Europe to bring you some interestingly savage (and some pawsomely cute) Wolf facts that will blow your mind!

1. A Group of Wolves is Called a Pack! 

A large group of related wolves is known as a pack. Usually a pack is a family of seven to ten wolves living together with a dominant male and female couple having all the pups. They can get MUCH bigger though. At it’s maximum size the Druid’s Peak pack in Yellowstone Park, USA was recorded as having 37 wolves.  

2. Wolves Work Together in a Team!

It’s a tough life being wild but if you rearrange the letters of team you can spell the word meat! Maybe that’s why wolves are famous for working together to feed each other. The pack hunts togethers to catch larger prey like Moose and Bison and the deliciously meaty catch will be shared amongst all the pack (eventually) even the little ones who haven’t helped on the hunt itself!

3. Dogs are Tamed Wolves!

After annoying toddlers, wolves are the second most famous howlers, but it’s not only way they communicate. Just like toddlers they also whimper, whine, growl and bark! You might have noticed this is also similar to how dogs communicate… This is because dogs are domesticated (aka tame) descendants of wolves. Dog’s aren’t just a little bit more relaxed and child-friendly though, they’re also smaller with shorter muzzles and smaller teeth. Phew!

4. This Wolf Fact Kinda Make Scents!

Wolves also make scents to communicate. Making scents makes sense because a wolf’s sense of smell is a centitude(100 times) stronger than a human’s scent sensors. One source of body smell they use is wee, which they use to mark territory and to tell other wolves in their own pack where they’ve been. 

5. You Can Speak Wolf!

Wolves (like dogs) also use body language to communicate with each other. We don’t recommend it, but if you ever find yourself surrounded by a hungry pack of wolves here are some moves you can try!

Confident: Hold your head and tail high and perk your ears up.

Insecure: Lower your body to the ground,  put your tail between your legs, and flatten your ears.

“Do you want to play”: Prance about and wave your bum in the air.

6. A Wolf’s Howl is LOUD!

A howling pack of wolves can be heard from over ten miles away. Each pack’s howl sounds different and other packs can use the sound to calculate the size, strength and location of rival packs. This howling, combined with scent markings from wolves weeing on trees and bushes will show the wolves territory. A smaller pack might not dare to venture into a territory owned by a larger pack!

7. Wolf Pups Have a Good Life

Wolf pups stay with the pack for the first few years of their lives, learning to play, hunt and survive with their family! As we mentioned beforem, the older wolves will also help look after the youngsters. When they get big enough they can leave their parents to join a different pack or start their own!

8. Wolves Pop out Pups Every Year!

Little wolves are looked after by their big brothers and sisters. And siblings are in no short supply as the parents pop out a new litter of pups every year! Wolf mommas are pregnant for up to 65 days and usually, have between four and six adorably fuzzy pups in each litter!

9. Wolves That Bay Together, Stay Together!

Once wolves find a mate they tend to stay together. A wolf known as Lobo died of a broken heart after Wolf hunter extraordinaire, Ernest Thompson Seton, poisoned his partner. Seton became so attached to Lobo, it changed the worlds whole perspective on this fantastic animals. "Ever since Lobo", Seton later wrote, "my sincerest wish has been to impress upon people that each of our native wild creatures is in itself a precious heritage that we have no right to destroy or put beyond the reach of our children." Seton saw the error of his ways and his tales of wolves and their loyalty to their mates, inspired activists like Sir David Attenborough to take up campaigning to stop these animals being hunted to extinction.

10. Wolves Will Make The Ultimate Sacrifice!

We’ve heard how Lobo died of a broken heart, but it’s not just their partners wolves will fight for. Wolves love their packs so much they’ll often give everything (even their lives) to make sure the pack survives. In the words of the author of The Jungle Book, Rudjard Kipling, “The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.”

11. Wolves Are Pretty Fast!

Wolves can run at a speed of 58-60 kmph. That’s pretty fast but not as fast as a cheetah, who can sprint at speeds around 80kmph. Usually, when wolves hunt they run much slower but can cover huge distances day after day. Basically, They’re more Mo Farah than Usain Bolt. See the next fact to find out why!

12. Wolves like a Long Run Before Lunch!

Wolves run down their prey over long distances which is why they hunt at low speeds, following the animal until it’s so tired it can’t fight back. They use their fitness, sense of smell and intellegence to track and hunt them through the wild! They’ll also take it turns to lead the way. Some of the pack can take it easy and rest while the others hassle the prey into running all the time.

13. Wolves Really do “Wolf” it down!

Wolves can eat 9 kg in one meal - that’s the weight of a standard office chair! Hunting to stay alive means that they never know when the next meal is coming from, so they take the chance to gobble as much down as possible! They’re so famous for their quick eating, wolves have become associated with hunger for example the phrases “Wolfing it down” and ”Hungry as a Wolf”

14. Dramatic Paws

A wolf’s paw print can measure as long as 5 inches. That’s a pretty big print, almost the same as a human handprint. That’s a scary track to find in Yellowstone Park where there might be a pack of 37 wolves behind the next tree! But did you hear about the wolf leader of the pack with 6inch paws? He made a great ruler! Haha!

15. Wolves Have Huge Territories

Wolf packs can have huge territories. In Canada and Alaska their homeland can be as much as a whopping 1,000 square miles! It’s an insane amount of land and resources to picture so here’s a comparison: 1000 square miles is bigger than London! London has more Nando’s, though.