WOLF* 

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Wolves are famous for their howl. They howl when they need to communicate (=talk) with other wolves. If a wolf is alone, it howls to draw attention of his pack (=a group of wolves). Sometimes a pack of wolves howl together and send messages to other packs. A wolf also howls when it challenges other wolves. They also howl simply because other wolves are howling.

Wolves are the biggest members of the dog family. However, while a dog is man’s best friend, a wolf is not. People don’t like wolves very much. Rather, they are afraid of wolves. Wolves don’t attack people; but they do attack people’s domestic animals like sheep, goats and hens. Because of this, farmers often kill them by shooting, trapping or poisoning.

Wolves are endangered animals. Gray wolves and red wolves are almost extinct. Only a small number of gray wolves survive in Europe, though many live in Alaska, Canada, and Asia. As for red wolves, only about a hundred red wolves survive in the world.

Like lions and zebras, wolves live in groups (packs). Each pack consists of six to ten wolves. They walk long distances ( 20 kilometers in one day). Wolves’ favorite prey (=food) is deer. When they find a deer they cooperate (work together) because it is a big animal. A wolf can eat 9 kilograms of meat in one day. They also eat small animals like birds, fish, snakes. Wolves eat fruit as well.

There is strict hierarchy in a wolf pack. A male is the head of the pack. His wife is next to him in this hierarchy. Other males and females of the pack don’t breed, in other words, they don’t have babies. They either look after the baby wolves or hunt**.

One last thing to remember: as bald eagle is a national symbol for Americans, wolf is a national symbol for Turks. We think it a noble animal.