Canis lupus orion

The Greenland Wolf is a subspecies of wolf that is also found on Ellesmere island; a large, close by island just northwest of Greenland. A majority of the current Greenlandic population lives in northern Greenland, including Northeast Greenland National Park. Their population in Greenland is considered to be low by most sources, though the exact numbers vary. Within Greenland the population is inbred, indicating that they may have a wild population syndrome called inbreeding depression. The recorded size of the wolf is based upon a few samples of malnourished individuals. As such it is not published on this page.

This subspecies likely started forming about 7,600 years ago. As all animals with a cosmopolitan distribution, the animals develop their own local cultures. Their hunting preferences in Greenland focus on ease of kill, and unlike some other wolves subsist largely on a diet of Lagomorphs. They also subsist on muskoxen calves, and prey upon seal sometimes. On Ellesmere they hunt adult musk oxen more freely. On that same island a National Geographic team recorded a family who traveled freely around their territory with their pups, aged at 12 weeks. The family nullified the need of a rendezvous site and fed the pups meat straight from the carcass. This may mean that they did not den, or moved their pups out of the den much more quickly then other wolves. The wolves in Greenland have higher rates of distances between territories. This is suspected to be a result of the sparse climate, however it could also be a result of historical poisoning creating population gaps and invisible-to-human barriers.

Its scientific name is based off of the constellation Orion or the hunter it is based on. The constellation is an hourglass with three stars in the center. Why the wolves were named after Orion is currently unclear to this writer, but it is likely that the person who named them, Reginald Pocock, felt that Orion was important to distinguish the wolves, as the two other subspecies he named were *C.l. arabs* and *C.l. arctos*. Both refer to their location rather than their symbolic traits. So why was this subspecies referred to as *orion* instead of *groenlandicus* (as the Ellesmere population had been assigned with *arctos* at the time)? Perhaps it is an association with winter, as in the northern hemisphere Orion shows up from autumn and early spring. It is also near Sirius, the dog in the sky. Maybe the constellation had an impact on the people from Greenland, such as dog sledders or the wolves' habitat, and he took this opportunity to slide it in.

Or perhaps it was in reference to the hunter. The myths of Orion that I have found do not have any mentions of a wolf in particular, though its possible one did. Artemis is important in some of the myths of Orion, and she is associated with wolves, though that might be stretching it. Or maybe he felt that Greenland wolves hunted in a way he imagined Orion did.

## Religion & Impact

Various communities in Greenland and on Ellesmere Island have interacted with these wolves throughout time. Wolves were have been hunted for their fur and likely meat by some communities.

### Indigenous

**Saqqaq:** (Greenland) Empty

**Independence I:** Empty (Greenland)

**Independence II:** Empty (Greenland)

**Dorset:** (Greenland & Ellesemere) Empty

**Thule:** (Ellesmere) Empty

**Kalaalit:** (Greenland) Empty

**Tunumiit:** (Greenland) Empty

**Inughuit:** (Greenland) Empty

**Post-Colonization:** In 1875 the book "Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo" was published by expert glaciologist, anthropologist, and Inuit ally Hinrich Rink. He mentions that the word "amarok" refers to wolves in most Inuit languages, but in Greenland it refers to a different creature told in tales. It seems that Hinrich had heard of the word in other Inuit languages, and in those places it was meant to describe only the wolves, while in Greenland it described a mythical animal. Hinrich insisted on adding a link between them, as they are the same word, and its quite likely that the Greenlandics he spoke with also learned of this link from him. or the people he spoke with insisted on adding a link between them.

The amarok is not a singular god, but rather a species of monster. They are described in such a way that emphasizes their descendance from wolves, but are emphatically not a wolf. They are larger, but they might also look different, perhaps with a longer tail. It is unclear how wolflike or wolfless they are. The amarok is described as being similar to a giant wolf, however the text suggests that they had different qualities besides size, but it doesn't go into detail at what those are. However, the tail may be longer than in wolves and prehensile. In the story an amarok shakes the hidden seal bones out of a boys body by slamming him to the ground as he holds his tail. He then allows a boy to visit and wrestle with him every day until he becomes strong enough to over come him, to which the amarok then dismisses him from his teachings. Another has a man capture a polar bear and then an amarok to lead his sleigh, and then an increasing amount of other larger, fiercer monsters.

The role real wolves themselves play in the physical cultures was not documented in the book.

### Colonial/Non-Indigenous

**Vikings:** Empty

**Danes:**

**Other:** For a period of 40 years colonists extinguished the local population, mostly through poison. Ironic to some modern concepts, Greenland wolf pelts were considered to be of low value due to their scarcity. Danes, Norwegians, and possibly other settlers such as English partook in this event.

## References

1. ↑ https://thewolfintelligencer.com/greenland-wolf-canis-lupus-orion/
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.naturalworldsafaris.com/polar-regions/greenland/wildlife
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland\_wolf
4. ↑ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169534702024898
5. ↑ https://www.pnas.org/content/113/13/3585
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/08/arctic-wolves-harsh-lives-living-on-top-of-the-world-feature/
7. ↑ https://wolf.org/wolf-info/wild-kids/wolf-families/
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-011-1002-5
9. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barren-ground\_caribou
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 https://www.solarsystemquick.com/universe/orion-constellation
11. ↑ https://archive.org/details/talestraditionso0000rink/page/48/mode/1up?view=theater
12. ↑ https://archive.org/details/talestraditionso0000rink/page/94/mode/1up?view=theater
13. ↑ https://glosbe.com/kl/en/amaroq