- Information
- Threats
- Did you know that
WOLF
The wolf has been a symbol of power and freedom, as well as a character of legend for thousands of years. In fact, the “big bad wolf” is in much greater need to be protected from us than we are from him. The wolf used to be the mammal with the biggest geographical distribution on the planet, covering nearly the whole of the northern hemisphere. Today, because of systematic hunting practices, a small population can be found in Portugal, Spain, Italy, the Scandinavian countries and eastern Europe. It has recently reappeared in France, Switzerland and Germany. In Greece, its distribution covers to almost all of the country's mainland, north of Boeotia. It is estimated that there are 700 wolves in many small packs with no contact with one another, their presence being the strongest in areas with nomadic stock raising or areas with big mountain ranges without intense human activity.
WOLF
- Livestock depredation because of the decline of the wolf's natural prey population (deer, roe, wild boar) combined with the gradual loosening of prevention of losses by the State, only exacerbate the wolf's clash with humans. Despite the strict State laws that are in force since 1991 forbidding their usage, the mangles and poisoned baits are still widespread practices of killing wolves.
- The expansion of human activity even in the almost inaccessible, secluded areas, the big construction projects, the opening of uncontrolled forest road networks, the expansion of pastures and the reduction of forest areas endanger the wolf's survival.
WOLF
- The wolf can run very fast (up to 45 km/h) and is a great swimmer.
- Can get up to 1.5m. long
- Lives in packs for best results in hunting.
- The pack's leader is the Alpha wolf of the pack (either male or female) that forms the mating pair with its mate.
- It has evolved so as to mainly feed of wild herbivore animals but in cases when this is impossible, they subsist of smaller animals, livestock animals or even anthropogenic sources of food such as garbage or dead animals.
- Wolves can track their pray from the distance of 3km away using just their sense of smell.
- A wolf can hear the howling of another wolf from the distance of even 10km, whereas humans cannot detect any noise.
