Arctic Wolf

Canis lupus arctos

Easy

The **Arctic Wolf** (*Canis lupus arctos*) is a large North American canine featured in the Arctic Pack DLC for *Planet Zoo*.

## Zoopedia Description

### General

**Population in the Wild:** 200,000 estimated

Arctic wolves (or Canis lupus arctos) are a large canid subspecies that live in Northern Canada and Greenland. Also known as white wolves, they are large pack predators that feed primarily on muskoxen and arctic hares, although they may also eat foxes, birds and bear cubs, as well as occasionally scavenging carrion.

The wolves are mainly white - although some individuals may be pale grey or blonde - and are larger and of a stockier build than other subspecies of wolf, weighing between 32 and 80 kg, and measuring between 1.0 and 1.8m long.

The subspecies is not endangered. Their natural environment is so harsh that they do not have to deal with the impact of human development such as land use change by urbanization or agriculture, but they are negatively affected by climate change. Unseasonal summers and winters have affected the breeding success of the hares and muskox that they prey upon, which can cause a decrease in the wolf population.

### Social

Wolves are very social animals that live in family packs, the average consisting of an alpha male and alpha female, their juvenile offspring and a litter of pups that are less than a year old. These are closely bonded and wolves get distressed if their pack is separated or if a pack member dies.

### Reproduction

Only the alpha male and alpha female in a pack have pups. The adults are monogamously bonded and mate for life, while their pups stay with their parents until they reach sexual maturity, or until food competition becomes too high, at which point they will leave to become a lone wolf. Lone wolves search for another lone wolf of the opposite sex and establish a territory; if successful in finding a partner, they mate during the breeding season and reproduce a litter of pups once a year, remaining together for life.

## Animal Care

 FEEDING STATIONS
 FOOD ENRICHMENT
Rotation Line Feeder · Pinata Enrichment · Dog Ball · Bamboo Feeder
Ice Block · Blood Scent Marker · Cardboard Box · Chew Toy · Large Ball · Prey-Scented Sack · Sprinkler · Large Snow Ball · Gift Box · Rubber Duck · Small Ball · Small Ice Ball Enrichment · Small Ball Colourful

## Trivia

### Zoopedia Fun Facts

* Arctic wolves are larger and stockier than other species of wolves to enable them to withstand the harsh conditions in which they live.
* All Arctic Wolf pups are born with blue eyes, which turn orange or yellow between 4 - 8 weeks old. However, very occasionally, a Wolf may retain their blue eyes to adulthood.
* Arctic wolves have had little exposure to humans and thus are not scared of people; they are likely to approach humans with curiosity.
* Arctic wolves can withstand temperatures as low as -53C.
* The population of Arctic wolves fluctuates depending on the success of the breeding season of their prey.

### Other Trivia

* The Zoopedia claims that wild wolf packs have hierarchical structures, which came from a book published in the 1990s. However, this was quickly discovered to have been mistaken in applying the behavior of captive wolf packs made up of unrelated individuals to those of wild wolf packs, which are large wolf families lead by a breeding pair. The man who published the book was the one who discovered this fact.
* The Arctic Wolf is the first dog to be added in a DLC.

## Gallery

### Image Gallery

BabyFemale WolfMale WolfThe cub of an Arctic wolf goes to the adultBaby playing with motherArctic wolf kills reindeer