10 Wolf Facts
1. A wolf’s hearing is at least 16 times sharper than a human’s. Wolves can hear a sound as far as six miles away in the forest and ten miles away in open country.
2. The wolf’s sense of smell is 100 times greater than a human’s; the wolf possesses as many as 200 million olfactory cells.
3. The wolf has extremely powerful jaws that can generate 1,500 psi of pressure, twice that of a German Shepherd.
4. A wolf can run at speeds of up to 30-35 mph.
5. Lone wolves have no established territory and rarely howl or scent-mark.
6. Wolf pups are born with blue eyes, which will change to yellow-gold by the time the pups are 8-16 weeks old.
7. Wolves howl to advertise their presence or position, to greet one another, to rally the pack and to attract a mate.
8. Many wild wolves die before they reach five years of age. Very few exceed nine years of age. In captivity, wolves can live up to 16 years.
9. The only true enemy of the wolf is man. Studies in Canada, Italy and the United States show that from 60-90% of wolf mortality has been through human causes.
10. It is estimated that two million wolves were killed in a war of extermination waged against the species in the United States, the majority between 1850 and 1910.