Happy International Wolf Day!!! Wolfs rain howl Wolf Attack Loop run run wolf Rue Grin :WolfHowl: kuroshin on icon Gray Wolf wolf run gif
 
While yesterday was all about elephants, today is in honor for one of the most maligned and yet another well-known animals. Wolves have quite a history on them, both natural and human. They are the largest members of the dog family, Canidae; though the extinct Dire Wolf (Canis dirus) was probably slightly larger. There is a vast number of subspecies of wolves, including the northern Rocky Mountain wolf (Canis lupus irremotus), Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi), Eurasian wolf (Canis lupus lupus), the Arctic wolf (Canis lupus arctos), and many more. Although all wolves are native to North American and Eurasia, they live in forests, inland wetlands, shrublands, grasslands, tundras, pastures, and rocky peaks on mountains; there are some species that live in deserts, such as the Mexican wolf and the Arabian wolf (Canis lupus arabs). For wolves living in northern climates, they have very dense and fluffy winter fur, with a short undercoat and long, coarse guard hairs, which traps heat and prevents ice and water from penetrating. They have large feet which act as snowshoes, a build that allows them to plow through the snow, and moderately long legs which enables them to move swiftly, and to overcome the deep snow. Like all members of the order Carnivora, wolves feed on other animals, particularly large herbivorous hoofed mammals, like deer, bison, moose, caribou, and wild boar, though they will also eat small game, like rodents, lagamorphs, insectivores, waterfowl, and fish, such as salmon or pikes. However, wolves are not strictly carnivorous. They will eat fruit as well, such as apples, berries, melons, and cherries.
 
Wolves are known for being highly social, existing in a pack with a pecking order, usually a nuclear family consisting of a mated pair with their children. The pair are typically the highest-ranking wolves, referred to as Alphas. They lead the pack during a hunt and often eat first when a kill is made. They are the only wolves in a pack to mate and produce pups, however multiple litters within a pack can occur, especially if the conditions are right. Next, there is/are the Beta(s). The Beta’s role is to act as a second-in-command and caretaker for pups. The lowest-ranking wolf is known as the Omega, which is treated as a scapegoat, living on the outskirts of the pack, usually eating last. Despite the seemingly cruel fate omegas have, they serve as both a stress-reliever and instigator of play. And then there is the lone wolf, or disperser, who “disperses” from a pack to find another pack to join or mate. Since wolves are pack hunters and thus not built to kill large animals single handedly like cats, lone wolves have difficulty hunting their typical prey, large herbivorous hoofed mammals, which are troublesome for a single wolf to bring down alone. So they instead scavenge and hunt small animals. However, a lone wolf can be more dangerous, and attack people as well. Wolves are famous for their howls. They use this vocalization as a long-way communication to either check in on their pack mates or draw in new members. They do have other forms of communication, such as barking, growling, whimpering, and whining. Body language is also used, even posture represents a wolf’s rank in the pack; perked up ears, head held up high, and an erect tail indicates the dominance of the Alpha, whereas folded back ears, head lowered, tail tucked between the legs, and a slinking, slumping body posture communicates submission. Pay close attention to my pic and see if you can spot the Alpha.____
 
Wolves are the ancestors of all our domestic dogs, carrying the same pack behavior and sense of family and loyalty that still runs in wolves to this day. Unfortunately, westerners have never revered wolves for these virtues. Instead, they only received contempt and fear. Wolves were seen as servants of the Devil, slaughtering people and livestock alike with depraved bloodlust. It was even this negative view towards wolves that created the infamous werewolf, or Lycanthrope. After a person is bitten by a wolf, they turn into a half-human, half-wolf monster that attacks anything that moves on a full moon night. Wolves are also portrayed in an unjust light in fairy tales and fables as evil killers, from the Big Bad Wolf that threatened to devour the Three Little Pigs, to the wolf that tried to devour Little Red Riding Hood. Even religions, like Christianity, depict them as metaphors for greed, destructiveness, evil men with a lust for power and dishonest gain, as well as a metaphor for Satan preying on Christians, contrasted with the shepherd Jesus who keeps his flock safe. However, legends surrounding Saint Francis of Assisi show him befriending a wolf. Meanwhile, the wolf earns reverence from other cultures. The fabled founders of Rome were suckled by a she-wolf, wolves were ridden by gods of protection in Hinduism and Buddhism, and many Native American cultures considered the wolf a medicine being associated with courage, strength, loyalty, and success at hunting. Wolves were seen as totems and as teachers for hunters and warriors, a sharp contrast to agent of evil westerners have thought of. They are even among the central characters of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, where a family of Indian wolves (Canis lupus pallipes) raise the wild child hero, Mowgli. Kipling’s portrayal of wolves has been praised by wolf biologists for his depiction of them: instead of being villainous or gluttonous, they are shown as living in amiable family groups.
 
Due to the hateful view of the wolf by westerners, these magnificent mammals have been persecuted and nearly hunted to extinction, especially by ranchers and shepards. The most well-known example was the extinction of the wolves of Yellowstone. Ranchers saw wolves, as they do now, as threats to their livestock (though lone wolves and feral dogs are more likely to attack them), and hunted them down. Government predator control programs in the first decades of the 1900s also helped eliminate the gray wolf from Yellowstone. However, with the wolves removed, the natural order of the national park deteriorated: their usual prey, elks, overpopulated and overgrazed the vegetation, leaving them to starve, saplings are devoured, which prevented new trees from growing, and without wolves controlling them, coyote populations increased dramatically which adversely impacted the pronghorns population. After a string of re-introduction initiatives throughout most of the decade, wolves were finally reintroduced back into Yellowstone in the 1990s, restoring the park to its former glory and the elk population reduced in a stable amount. In other parts of the world, there are some species that are long gone. These include the Florida black wolf (Canis lupus floridanus), which became extinct in 1908 due to crowding out of its habitat and hunting, and Japan’s only wolf species, the Japanese wolf (Canis lupus hodophilax) and Hokkaido wolf (Canis lupus hattai), which both died out in 1905 and 1945 respectively for similar reasons. While it is sad that some of these wolves are gone forever, we must not let the same thing happen to the others. Show some love and appreciation instead of hate and fear. Wolves deserve it.
 
 
Just like with Muriel the elephant, the only wolf to appear in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was a she-wolf named Sandra, who was brought to Fluttershy’s Sweet Feather Sanctuary in the season nine episode “She Talks With Angel.” Although ponies have been plagued by Timberwolves, these creatures are not really wolves but giant monsters composed of fallen tree trunks and branches dwelling in the mysterious Everfree Forest. Although I’m disappointed that only one real wolf appeared in MLP:FIM, I am so glad that she did.
 
For this piece, I chose to create a pack. And you’ll probably recognize Sandra. And if you’re a wolf expert, you’ll know what her status is the pack judging by her confident posture and erect tail. If you don’t know, she’s the alpha! As for the rest of her pack members, I actually experimented on the different color variations since I first made Sandra’s vector. I also brought in some ravens, since they share a symbiotic relationship with wolves. And what better environment for these wolves than a snowy one. Most wolves are built for such an ecosystem. I know the file wasn’t big enough, but despite the weak resolution, I believe it fits perfectly.
 
Background by :iconmisty114:
 
Hope you enjoy this. And may you show wolves the love they deserve. Heart
 
#internationalwolfday2020