The length of body of a mature wolf may reach 5.2 feet. The weight is to 154 pounds. Tail is bushy. The color of fur is grey, with dark “saddle”, albescent or reddish. Wolf inhabits everywhere, but it keeps to open space and poor wooded valleys of rivers. It feeds on gnawing animals, hoofed mammals, birds and carrion. Wolf is a night beast of prey. From autumn till spring it migrates in family packs of about 6-10 heads: a full-grown male and female, “pribylye”(cubs, born in the current year) and “pereyarki”(last year brood). The rut is in February-March. Pregnancy endures up to 65 days. From April to October the full-grown wolves live in a settled way on a brood area near their den (20-25 sq.kms). A wolf den is a nidicolous area of about 3-5 sq. kilometers with a hole or defilade, with 1 or 2 paths to a watering place, which must be situated not farther than 547 yards from the den, with a number of beds and spots where cubs can play.
A wolf has a large family. A full-grown wolf is the head of the family. It gets a breed and holds its area. Both male and female may become a full-grown wolf. “Pribylye” are cubs, which have not reach 1 year of age. There may be 7-9 cubs in a pack, but usually – 3-5. “Pereyarks” are cubs which were born the previous year and left on their parents` area. Sometimes, besides the full-growns, there might be a few other wolves – which are younger. They bow to full-grown wolves.
A pack is a family of wolves, consisting of parents and cubs of several breeds. Mates usually create their families for life. But sometimes other wolves that are not related to the full-growns may join the pack. Generally they are males, since females have more severe relations. The smallest pack consists of 4-5 wolves, the biggest one – up to 22 animals. Besides, there are lone wolves, however they are scarce. Lone wolves nomadize while a pack keeps its own territory.
In January-February wolves have a rut. At this period a male and female seclude themselves from other wolves in order to produce a new breed. They have very gentle relations. Wolves settle their dens in holes. They can burrow themselves, or occupy fox holes or upland caves, or make grooves between stones. Wolves can swim well and sometimes they settle their dens on islands. When a she-wolf gives birth to cubs, it stays in the hole for several days. A full-grown male gets food. Cubs live in a den for about a month. Then the mother transfers them to another place – in a secluded area where there are gorges, bushes and high grass. Cubs frisk, play and grow there, and their parents go hunting every night and bring meal in the morning. On the first days of September wolf cubs begin to adapt on the family area. In November wolves prowl in packs. During hunt a male wolf, as a rule, is the head of the pack, but when making a den and fostering cubs a she-wolf becomes the head.
A wolf has a perfect scent. Ambuscaders - wolves that come up to their prey closer than other wolves always move in such a way, so that the wind blew from the direction of the prey. All wolves leave “marks” in certain places, that is they urinate, and a wolf can define by the smell if the “mark” was left by a male or a female and if it belonged to their pack or not. Wolves leave marks not only within the bounds of their area, but also on the paths of their hunt. Wolves hear much better than humans and utter various sounds: snarl, sniff, squeak, whine, yelp, bark and howl. Snarling means threat for an adversary, sniffing warns of danger, cubs usually whine when they feel bad, weak wolves yelp. Wolves bark at a big predator, for example, at a bear, but they howl by different reasons. Besides every wolf howls in its own way: a full-grown wolf howls low and long, a she-wolf – subtle and short, young wolves howl with yelping and light barking. A family choir can make a man feel creepy. Howling may be heard further than 2.5 miles. Wolves howl to communicate. They warn other packs so that not to run into them; inform their cubs about their return or just let them know of their seat.
A wolf surely can feed on gnawers, rabbits, marmots and vegetation but you can say that nature created wolves to hunt hoofed mammals. Wolves hunt various animals: in tundra they hunt reindeer, in taiga – moose. In Kamchatka wolves usually hunt domestic and wild deer, more rarely – bighorn sheep. Withal, wolves attack bears, bay lynxes and catch foxes. They have many hunt ruses. Contrary to common concepts about wolves, they do not like to chase after the prey for a long time, since hoofed mammals run faster than they. Wolves try to outwit their prey. For example, in the mountains they bay reindeer on a narrow cape over the steep. Two things are left for the reindeer: to leap from the cape and die or to force its way through the wolf pack. In winter wolves bay a moose on the ice, where it slips and falls down and then they run easily. Hunting in pack has many advantages – some wolves lay an ambush, others bay a prey to it. However, hunting is not always successful: a photo of the moose which successfully defended itself against 16 wolves spread through many editions of the world. Another moose, being blind, managed to get away from 11 wolves. Like other beasts of prey, only the strongest and most adapted wolves can persist.
An interesting thing, that wolves and crows are drawn to each other. They even can play. Some of predators, such as wolverines, lynxes and foxes, also feed on leavings from “the wolves` table”. But while it’s safe for birds, then the beast which nodded by wolves` food debris can be killed by “the master”.
Here, in Kamchatka, cases when wolves attack brown bears and win became more frequent.
A wolf is quiet a rare beast in Kamchatka. Unlike other regions, the wolves of Kamchatka besides meat feed on fish and they can often be seen near the rivers in spawning period. Total number of wolves on the peninsula is not more than 100-150 heads. Though, from time to time they are hunted, since under favorable conditions these animals propagate quickly and can cause damage on domestic reindeer breeding – the main occupation of the Koryaks and the Evens, the native people of Kamchatka. Annually they shoot 20-25 wolves. Their number is usually restored rapidly.