THE LARGER NORTH AMERICAN MAMMALS 



421 



Canada, south to the plains of Puebla, on the 

 southern end of the Mexican table-land, and 

 from Michigan, Kansas, and Texas west to the 

 Pacific coast. It has now become extinct over 

 much of this area and is everywhere greatly 

 reduced in numbers. 



It appears to thrive equally well on the plains 

 of Alberta, in the open pine forests of the 

 Sierra Nevada in California, and on the dry 

 tropical lowlands at the southern end of the 

 Peninsula of Lower CaUfornia. 



ARCTIC WOLF (Canis tundrarum) 



In order to fit properly into a high northern 

 environment, Arctic wolves have developed 

 white coats, which they wear throughout the 

 year. They are among the largest of their kind 

 and have all the surpassing vigor needful for 

 successful beasts of prey in the rigors of such 

 a home. Nature is more than ordinarily hard 

 on weaklings in the far North and only the 

 fittest survive. 



The range of the white wolves covers the 

 treeless barren grounds bordering the Arctic 

 coast of Alaska and Canada and extending 

 thence across the Arctic islands to the north 

 coast of Greenland beyond 83 degrees of lati- 

 tude. 



The short summer in the far North is the 

 season of plenty, during which swarms of wild- 

 fowl furnish a bountiful addition to the regu- 

 lar food supply. Young wolves are reared and 

 the pack feeds fat, laying up a needed reserve 

 strength for the coming season of darkness. 

 When winter arrives lemmings and Arctic 

 hares and an occasional white fox furnish an 

 uncertain food supply for such insistent hun- 

 ger as that of wolves, and larger game is a 

 necessity. 



In the northern part of their range they 

 share with the other denizens of that land the 

 months of continuous night. There, amid re- 

 lentless storms and iron frosts, the trail, once 

 found, must be held to the end. The chase is 

 made in the gloom of continuous night and the 

 white caribou or musk-ox herd is brought to 

 bay, and by the law of the pack food is pro- 

 vided. 



White wolves are the one dreaded foe Na- 

 ture has given the musk-ox and the caribou in 

 the northern wilds. The number of the wolves, 

 as with other carnivores, varies with the abun- 

 dance of their chief prey, and they will disap- 

 pear automatically with the caribou and musk- 

 oxen. 



GRAY, OR TIMBER, WOLF (Canis 



nubilus and its relatives) 



Large wolves, closely related to those of Eu- 

 rope and Siberia, once infested practically all 

 of Arctic and temperate North America, ex- 

 cepting only the arid desert plains. This range 

 extended from the remotest northern lands be- 

 yond 83 degrees of latitude south to the moun- 

 tains about the Valley of Mexico. 



When America was first colonized by white 



men, wolves were numerous everywhere in pro- 

 portion to the great abundance of game ani- 

 mals. With the increased occupation of the 

 continent a'nd the destruction of most of its 

 large game, wolves have entirely disappeared 

 from large parts of their former domain. They 

 still occur in varying numbers in the forest 

 along our northern border from Michigan 

 westward, and south along the Rocky Moun- 

 tains and the Sierra Madre to Durango, Mex- 

 ico, and also in all the Gulf States. 



The variations in climate and other physical 

 conditions within their range has resulted in 

 the development of numerous geographic races, 

 and perhaps of species, of wolves, which show 

 marked differences in size and color. The 

 white Arctic wolf, described on pages 421 and 

 424, is one o.f the most notable of these, but the 

 gray wolf of the Rocky Mountain region and 

 the eastern United States is the best known. 



Since the dawn of history Old World wolves, 

 when hunger pressed, have not hesitated to at- 

 tack men, and in wild districts have become a 

 fearful scourge. American wolves have rarely 

 shown this fearlessness toward man, probably 

 owing to the abundance of game before the 

 advent of white men and to the general use of 

 firearms among the pioneers. That wolves are 

 extremely difficult to exterminate is shown by 

 their persistence to the present day in parts of 

 France and ■elsewhere in Europe. This is due 

 both to their fecundity (they have from eight 

 to twelve young), and to their keen intelH- 

 gence, which they so often pit successfully 

 against the wiles of their chief enemy — man. 



Gray wolves appear to mate permanently, 

 and in spring their young are born in natural 

 dens among great rocks, or in a burrow dug 

 for the purpose in a. hillside. There both par- 

 ents exercise the greatest vigilance for the pro- 

 , tection of the young. The male kills and 

 brings in game and stands guard in the neigh- 

 borhood, while the mother devotes most of her 

 time to the pups while they are very small. At 

 other times of year packs made up of one or 

 more pairs-and their young hunt together with 

 a mutual helpfulness in pursuing and bringing 

 down their prey that shows a high order of in- 

 telligence. Wolves are in fact first cousins of 

 the dog, whose mental ability is recognized by 

 all. 



During the existence of the great bufifalo 

 herds, packs of big gray "buffalo wolves" 

 roamed the western plains, taking toll wher- 

 ever it pleased them. Since these vast game 

 herds have disappeared only a small fraction <. 

 of the wolves have survived. There are 

 enough, however, not only to commit great 

 ravages among the deer and otjier game in 

 northern Michigan and on the coastal island^ 

 of Alaska, ,but also to destroy much live stock 

 in the Rocky Mountain region. 



So serious have the losses in cattle and sheep 

 on the ranges become that Congress has re- 

 cently made large appropriations for the de- 

 struction o'f wolves and other predatory ani- 

 mals, and these disturbers of the peace will 

 soon become much reduced in numbers. The 



