PACKS: WE ARE HUNTING THE LARGEST PREY. 🙂 (for Sheepdog Nomocracy folks) —“Ri

PACKS: WE ARE HUNTING THE LARGEST PREY. 🙂

(for Sheepdog Nomocracy folks)

—“Risk to predators hunting dangerous prey is an emerging area of research and could account for possible persistent differences in gray wolf (Canis lupus) pack sizes. … Our data support the hypothesis that the persistence of differences in pack-size may be perpetuated by differences in risk to wolves of their primary prey, and we highlight two important extensions of this idea: (1) the potential for wolves to provision and defend injured pack-mates from other wolves and (2) the importance of less-risky, buffer prey to pack-size persistence and year-to-year variation.”—

WOLF SUPER-PACKS (PAC’s? 😉 ) EXIST

—“In the winter of 2010-11, a “super pack” of wolves numbering up to 400 reportedly terrorized the Russian town of Verkhoyansk (population 1,300) in northern region of Yakutia, one of the remotest inhabited areas in the northern hemisphere. More than 30 horses were killed in just four days, according to local officials, and teams of hunters were established to patrol neighbourhoods and shoot the wolves on sight.”—

NORTHERN WOLVES ARE BIGGEST

—“Wolves increase exponentially in size the further they are from the equator. Wolves of the tropics are often no larger than medium sized dogs, but those of the far north (Alaska, Canada, and Russia) can be in excess of 120lbs. The largest wolf ever killed in North America was taken in Alaska in 1939 and tipped the scales at 175lbs. In the former Ukraine SSR, a still more massive wolf was killed that weighed 190lbs. There are unsubstantiated reports of 200lb+ specimens, presumably alpha males in areas that boast a steady food supply.”—

WOLVES IN THE AMERICAS ARE NICER

—“Wolves in the Americas are less likely to attack humans than elsewhere in the world.There are very few verifiable records of wolf attacks in the US and Canada, but in Europe and Asia, wolves are far nastier. Historical accounts indicate over 3,000 people killed in France between 1580-1830. In the Middle Ages throughout Europe, special structures were built along highways for travelers to take refuge from roving packs. The wolves of India and Russia are also particularly well known to claim human victims. During World War I, soldiers from the Allied and Central Forces were occasionally forced to join forces fighting off starving wolves attracted by the scent of blood on the battlefield.”—

NO MERCY

—“Wolves eat their prey alive.”—