Arctic wolf

Animals in North America

Arctic Wolf 

The arctic wolf is a completely white subspecies of the grey wolf. Its coat consists of a thick, isolating undercoat and longer hair on the top. Besides the coat the arctic wolf has a shorter snout and smaller ears than other wolves. Shorter limbs are helping the wolf to keep its body warm. It can actually regulate which body parts should be kept warmer than others. This way arctic wolves are perfectly equipped when temperatures reach -45 grades. 

Due to the cold climate, arctic wolves have not been hunted very much by humans. This could explain why they aren't as shy as their grey relatives in the south. When smelling the scent of humans, they do not hide. In the contrary they are quite curious - a great advantage for biologists, when studying this species. 

Arctic wolves live in the northern part of North America, at the North Pole and along Greenlands coastline. On their search for feed they need to have huge territories of 2000 km2 where they travel enormous distances of 50 km daily. A pack normally consists of 7-10 individuals.  

Wolves are social animals that communicate a lot with each other and other wolves from other packs. Wolves do howl alone and together and it can mean a lot of different things. Sometimes a wolf howls to find a mate, other times they howl together to strengthen the bond of the pack.