Niche of a Wolf

Niche of a Wolf

     The Arctic wolf is a heterotrophic mammal and is also a tertiary consumer, carnivore, and predator that hunts and eats arctic hares, caribou, and muskox. Arctic wolves sleep in dens and are dependent on the hares, caribou and muskox they eat, as well as other the wolves in their pack.

     Arctic wolves give birth to their pups between May and June. They usually have litters of two or three.  The parents will build a den, often in a hill or the abandoned den of another animal. At twelve weeks old, or three months, the pups will begin accompanying their elders on hunting trips, since they are now big enough and strong enough to catch/eat their own food.

    Arctic wolves live together in packs with others of their kind and usually survive for up to 10 years.  They do not hibernate because their prey is especially active during the winter.  They can be awake during the day or night, but are typically diurnal.

     Gray wolves like to eat primary consumers, such as grazers like deer, elk, bison, beavers, rabbits and moose. this food chain would go sunlight to grass to deer to wolf and once the wolf dies , that energy ( not all of it) would go back into the energy loop. Badgers and wolverines compete for some of the same living prey  at the small end (e.g. rabbits, hares, beavers), but not commonly for larger living game. Both badgers and wolverines are capable of taking down large game on rare occasions, but compete with wolves mostly for carrion, which they will defend ferociously from not only wolves but from lynxes, mountain lions, and bears of all types.