page_title: Wolf
section_title: In folklore, religion and mythology
hierarchical_section_title: Wolf / Relationships with humans / In culture / In folklore, religion and mythology
caption_attribution_description: English: Lupa Capitolina: she-wolf with Romulus and Remus. Bronze, 13th century AD[1] (the twins are a 15th-century addition). Français&#160;: Lupa Capitolina: louve avec Romulus et Rémus. Bronze, œuvre du XIIIe siècle. (les jumeaux sont un ajout du XVe siècle).
context_page_description: The wolf, also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus have been recognized, and gray wolves, as colloquially understood, comprise non-domestic/feral subspecies. The wolf is the largest extant member of Canidae, males averaging 40 kg and females 37 kg. Wolves measure 105–160 cm in length and 80–85 cm at shoulder height. The wolf is also distinguished from other Canis species by its less pointed ears and muzzle, as well as a shorter torso and a longer tail. The wolf is nonetheless related closely enough to smaller Canis species, such as the coyote and the golden jackal, to produce fertile hybrids with them. The banded fur of a wolf is usually mottled white, brown, gray, and black, although subspecies in the arctic region may be nearly all white.
  Of all members of the genus Canis, the wolf is most specialized for cooperative game hunting as demonstrated by its physical adaptations to tackling large prey, its more social nature, and its highly advanced expressive behaviour. It travels in nuclear families consisting of a mated pair accompanied by their offspring.
context_section_description: The wolf is a common motif in the mythologies and cosmologies of peoples throughout its historical range. The Ancient Greeks associated wolves with Apollo, the god of light and order. The Ancient Romans connected the wolf with their god of war and agriculture Mars, and believed their city's founders, Romulus and Remus, were suckled by a she-wolf. Norse mythology includes the feared giant wolf Fenrir, eldest child of Loki and the giantess Angrboda, and Geri and Freki, Odin's faithful pets. The wolf was held in high esteem by the Dacians, who viewed it as the lord of all animals and as the only effective defender against evil.
  In the Pawnee creation myth, the wolf was the first animal brought to Earth. When humans killed it, they were punished with death, destruction and the loss of immortality. For the Pawnee, Sirius is the "wolf star" and its disappearance and reappearance signified the wolf moving to and from the spirit world. Both the Pawnee and Blackfoot call the Milky Way the "wolf trail". The wolf is also an important totem animal for the Tlingit and Tsimshian. In Chinese astronomy, the wolf represents Sirius as the "blue beast" and the star itself is called the "heavenly wolf". In China, the wolf was traditionally associated with greed and cruelty and wolf epithets were used to describe negative behaviours such as cruelty ("wolf's heart"), mistrust ("wolf's look") and lechery ("wolf-sex").
  Tengrism places high importance on the wolf, as it is thought that, when howling, it is praying to Tengri, thus making it the only creature other than man to worship a deity. In both Hinduism and Buddhism, the wolf is ridden by gods of protection. In Vedic Hinduism, the wolf is a symbol of the night and the daytime quail must escape from its jaws. In Hindu mythology, Krishna, to convince the people of Vraja to migrate to Vṛndāvana, creates hundreds of wolves from his hairs, which frighten the inhabitants of Vraja into making the journey. In Tantric Buddhism, wolves are depicted as inhabitants of graveyards and destroyers of corpses. In Zoroastrianism, the wolf has been demonized as the creation of Ahriman.
  The concept of people turning into wolves, and the inverse, has been present in many cultures. One Greek myth tells of Lycaon of Arcadia being transformed into a wolf by Zeus as punishment for his evil deeds. The legend of the werewolf has been widespread in European folklore and involves people willingly turning into wolves to attack and kill others. The Navajo have traditionally believed that witches would turn into wolves by donning wolf skins and would kill people and raid graveyards. The Dena'ina believed wolves were once men and viewed them as brothers. Similarly, in Turkic mythology wolves were believed to be the ancestors of their people.
caption: The Capitoline Wolf, sculpture of the mythical she-wolf feeding the twins Romulus and Remus, from the legend of the founding of Rome, Italy, 13th century AD. (The twins are a 15th-century addition.)
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