The dense forests of North America are home to one of the greatest predators in the world.
They used to be feared and hated, but are now beloved for their beauty
and their importance to their ecosystems.
Heed the call of the wild.
This is the Timber Wolf.
Hi, I'm Danielle Dufault and you're watching Animalogic.
Today we're in Muskoka, Ontario and I'm gonna go see some wolves.
Oh, there they are.
There are over 30 gray wolf subspecies
found all over the world, from the Arctic to the Indian subcontinent.
Some scientists even consider Australian dingoes a subspecies of gray wolf.
But today, we're on our way to meet the subspecies that's closest to my heart and to my home.
They're some of the largest and most majestic predators in North America, the timberwolves.
As their name suggests, these wolves specialize in life in the forest.
Those born west of the rockies are called Western Timber wolves
and those from the great lakes are the Eastern Timber wolves.
The Western Timber wolves are one of the most diverse wolf subspecies,
with coats ranging from jet black to brown and light gray.
Eastern Timber wolves are a bit more uniform.
Most of them are gray and light brown.
Here we go.
We're at Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary and we're about to meet a pack of wolves.
We need to keep as much distance as possible and approach
slowly and quietly to make sure that they stay as comfortable as possible.
The first thing you notice when you come across a Western Timber wolf is just how massive they are.
Some large males can get to 50 kilograms
and be as tall as a Saint Bernard, and even scarier if you're delicious and nutritious prey.
They're almost never alone.
An average wolf pack consists of about 10 wolves
and every day, they patrol their territory looking for food.
Their prey are usually deer and ungulate behemoths, like moose
and bison, which have a great sense of hearing and amazing peripheral vision.
But sometimes they'll go after Grizzly bears.
After spotting feasible prey, they'll sneak up on it until they're in striking range.
Then they'll start the chase, which sometimes can last for days, until they can surround their prey.
From there, they'll take turns attacking it and biting its sensitive areas until it bleeds out.
This is surprisingly similar to the hunting strategy of early humans.
These Western Timber wolves haven't eaten in a couple of days.
But today, they're getting an easier meal.
They're eating venison steak.
All right, I'm gonna be going in and helping to feed the wolves.
I've got a nice big bucket of meat, ripe for the chewin'.
The wolves are pretty shy because they actually joined the sanctuary just about two months ago
and haven't habituated to the people around here yet, too much.
But when the food comes out, everyone gets a little friendlier, right?
I know I do.
Little by little, the wolves come out to eat and then go back to the safety of the forest.
Very curious and cautious around us.
Watching our every move, so I need to be quiet, still.
Even the smallest sounds and noises and movements can spook them
and this one got a little nervous,
I think it was actually the rustling of a bird so, it's covert here.
After about an hour, they get their fill and retreat.
Ah, that was incredible!
It was a real privilege to actually share the enclosure with them
and watch them chow down for a little bit.
In the wild, Timber wolves can go days without food.
Catching large prey to gorge themselves on gives them the best chance of survival,
as it's more energetically efficient.
Deer are their favourite food and while it's easy to feel sad for them,
most deer species are overpopulated and wolves are one of the best methods of population control.
Catching huge animals takes an experienced team, so to see a larger pack, we're going
to Haliburton Forest Wildlife Reserve, home to a larger family of Western Timber wolves.
Here they come.
They're coming this way.
Oh, look at that.
Like most wolf packs, this one has a dominant mating pair and they recently had babies.
Wolves mate once a year and have three to five pups per litter.
In here, there's actually a litter of three pups, so it's pretty cute to see.
They're three months old, jet black, and really, really adorable.
Raising them is a communal effort.
All members of the pack help feed the puppies
by regurgitating food into their mouths and taking turns looking after them.
Their mom has to make sure they have the packs
undivided attention, as over 50 percent of wolf pups don't make it to adulthood.
A wolf pack typically has one dominant female,
who tries to keep all the other females stressed enough that they cannot reproduce.
She keeps them so stressed that they're unable to ovulate.
So you know they'll be one top dog and only she gets to breed.
Females being extra aggressive towards other females is a sadly
common occurrence in the animal kingdom.
But luckily, it doesn't take long until the pups become productive members of society.
The gestation period for gray wolves is only nine weeks,
after which, they'll give birth to three to five puppies.
They'll only drink the mother's milk for about eight weeks,
after that, they'll become full size by about eight months of age.
So they grow very, very fast.
Once they're old enough, they'll join the adults.
They'll quickly learn their role in the group and they'll
have to be submissive towards the dominant pair.
The punishment for insurrection is banishment, or in some cases, death.
Even in relatively peaceful packs like this one, conflict is inevitable.
A young male gets too comfortable around the dominant male and challenges his authority.
Another wolf senses the tension and holds him back.
Luckily, he's an experienced leader and knows how
to intimidate his subordinates without resorting to violence.
Crisis averted.
This group is very cohesive,
they go everywhere together and even clean each other after every meal.
They don't like having any food or blood crusted on their fur, so they'll help
each other out by licking each other's faces and making sure that nothing is left behind.
When they're not eating, they'll protect their territory, which in the wild, is about 35 square
kilometres, and mark it with urine to make sure other neighbouring wolves don't encroach on it.
The border area is marked extra strongly with urine, feces and anal gland secretions.
Howling is another form of communication.
It can be used as an alarm call, as a way to find each other when lost,
or as a threat to other wolf packs.
Wolves can tell how many members there are in other packs based on their howling.
If they think there's too few of them, they might attack to take over territory.
Wolves tend to howl when the moon is out for two simple reasons.
A clear night has the right atmospheric conditions for the howls to travel further
and the light makes them more active and willing to go on night hunts.
Under perfect conditions, their howls can travel over 10 kilometres, and if you hear them,
you can be sure you're entering the land of one of the greatest predators in the world.
Watch out, Bambi.
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