By their selective hunting, wolves help to maintain strong and healthy populations of their prey. Wolves begin breeding when they are 2 to 3 years old, during late winter. The pups, averaging 6 to a litter, are born during the spring in a den dug in the ground. All the members of the pack help to care for the young. The wolf pups are weaned in about five weeks a'nd by fall, are large enough to join the pack.
Gray wolves occupy many types of habitats including forests, plains, and mountains.
The gray wolf has long been feared and hated by many people partly due to their occasional attacks on livestock, and also because of man's prejudice and misconceptions about these large predatory animals. People also believe that they may be attacked by a wolf, when in fact, there has never been a documented case of a healthy wild wolf attacking a human in North America. Wolves have been shot, trapped, and poisoned to the extent that they are no longer found in most areas. The last known gray wolf in North Carolina was killed in Haywood County in 1887. The Nature Center's gray wolves are the most recent addition to the Predator Habitat, which is also home to our pair-of red wolves.