Wolf (Canis lupus) is one of the three representatives of the Canidae family that can be seen in Slovenia. In addition to the wolf and the fox, which live permanently in Slovenia, a jackal occasionally appears here. An adult wolf weighs from 20 to 80 kg. It hunts large ungulates, chasing them for so long that they become exhausted. Its main prey are deer, roe deer and wild boar, but it also preys on smaller vertebrates, invertebrates, carrion and plant matter. It usually hunts in a pack, less often alone. At a time it can cover 40 to 70 km, and for survival it needs an area of at least 25 square kilometers and about 4 kg of meat per day.
Active mainly at dusk and at night, during which it relies on an exceptional sense of smell and excellent hearing. Because it mainly captures animals in poorer physical condition and injured or sick animals, it plays an important role in natural selection and in maintaining the natural balance.
The wolf lives in packs, in which the hierarchy is strictly defined. The pack consists of related individuals, and only the breeding pair—the leading wolf and the alpha female—mate. Their cubs are born in spring, but about half do not reach their first birthday. They live for about 12 years, and in captivity more than 16 years. It is a distinctly territorial species, and the size of its territory varies considerably and depends on the number of wolves in the pack, prey density, and human presence in the area, as well as the relief characteristics of the territory. The pack vigorously defends its home range against wolves from another pack, and its territory boundaries are marked with scent markings and by howling.
The wolf is the ancestor of the dog; humans domesticated it in the Neolithic. Although the wolf is not dangerous to humans, it later fell into great disfavor among people. In Europe we relentlessly hunted it and exterminated it from large areas of central and northern Europe. Most wolves are still hunted today with the aim of reducing the damage wolves cause to small livestock farmers, but recent research shows that hunting wolves for this purpose has no effect whatsoever...
Today, due to the protection of the wolf's habitat and the prudent management of ungulate and wolf populations, its range is expanding, but it still remains one of the most endangered mammal species in Europe. In Slovenia it is legally protected, and on the Red List it is defined as a threatened species.
