COMING OF THE WOLVES
Rex Burress
The reentry of wolves into California and their new protective listing as endangered in the state has created quite a stir, especially between those who fear their presence, and those who admire and favor their protection.
The mere mention of the word 'wolf' makes some people cringe. For some, the Little Red Riding Hood stories starts the fear out early, and ghastly tales of shrewd wolf packs in the far north drives the rampant fear speculations. Actually, the big carnivore, Canis lupus, the gray wolf, can be an affectionate animal comparable to the domestic dog. Given the need, wolves can kill livestock, but even domestic dogs can travel in packs and kill sheep.
I have seen a “tamed” gray wolf brought into an Oakland classroom to show their gentle side, even though the killer instinct lies in their minds somewhere. Having worked with wild animals and “pets,” I would never take a wolf into a classroom. You never know what will trigger buried instincts into action. The opossums, birds, frogs, turtles, snakes, and cast that our Oakland Nature Center naturalist staff would 'show-and-tell' to groups, were not so formidable. Nevertheless, anything with a mouth has to be respected...especially if it weighs a wolfish 100 pounds!
As a farm boy in Missouri, there was a time when we watched a BIG dark eastern timber wolf crossing along a fence line between No Creek and Honey Creek. Word got around, and the fearful neighborhood got together to form a “wolf drive,” seeking to flush the killer, as was the attitude toward nearly all of the local predators...even snakes!
There are several wolf species, although designated taxonomy always seems in doubt due to interbreeding. There is not much mixing with the smaller coyote, Canis latrans, although the “little wolf,” as pioneers called them, are more adaptable and widespread.
The evolutionary wolf linage started about 800,000-years-ago according to fossils found so far, but most of the group became extinct about 20,000 YBP [years before present] when ice age glaciers wiped out their food supply it is theorized. One species, Canis dirus, the dire wolf, was one of the last prehistoric types until the gray wolf took over.
In the Oakland Nature Center archives, there is a skull of a dire wolf, a gift from the Irvington Quarry near Fremont, CA. Many dire wolves were extracted from the L.A. LaBrae Tar Pits, but the first dire wolf fossil dated at 9,440 YBP, was found in a central Missouri cave. They were indeed “dire,” as the large-toothed carnivore was nearly twice as big as the gray wolf, and competed with the saber-toothed cat. The large prehistoric animals disappeared about the time man appeared in America! Which poses the question, is there room on earth for large animals in view of mankind's wide occupation?
The domestic dog, Canis lupus familaris, is thought to have originated from an extinct wolf species. Buried dog remains have been found with Eurasia human bones dated at 14,700 years ago. Dogs have been selectively bred into about 200 varieties today, quite apparent in those big dog shows.
Coyotes are seen around Oroville, shrewdly surviving the wheels of progress. I was walking along the Glen Pond Trail once, [below Oroville Dam near where I once saw a mountain lion], and looking down at me from a bluff was a handsome coyote! I shall remember the tawny buff raggedness and regal stance and large, upright ears before it silently slipped away into the undergrowth. Of such do we get a hint of the call of the wild that keeps us alert to the wonders of nature.
“The strength of the wolf is the pack, and the strength of the pack is the wolf.”--Rudyard Kipling
“The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of liberty.” --Abraham Lincoln