David Mech (text), Jim Brandenburg (photos), At Home With the Arctic Wolf, National Geographic Vol. Other wolves in the pack may take care of the motherвЂ™s pups until she returns with food. When they are 5 weeks old, they are allowed outside the den. They are dependent on their mother for food and protection. Pups are born blind and deaf, and weigh about one pound. It is generally thought that the lower number is due to the scarcity of prey in the Arctic. This is fewer pups than gray wolves, which have four to five. The mother gives birth to 2 or 3 pups, though there may be as many as 12. After gestation of about 63 days to 75 days, birth is in late May to early June, about a month later than Gray Wolves. ReproductionДЄ pack of arctic wolves in Toronto Zoo, this photograph was of their previous exhibit See also: Gray wolf reproductive physiology and life cycleДue to the Arctic's permafrost soil and the difficulty it always poses for digging dens, arctic wolves often use rock outcroppings, caves or even shallow depressions as dens instead. When they return from the hunt, wolves regurgitate some of the food for the hungry pups. Wolves can eat up to 20 pounds (9В kg) of meat at one meal.

They eat all of their prey, including the bones. They swallow food in large chunks, barely chewing it. ДЄdult wolves have 42 teeth, their main weapon in hunting. They are not fast runners, instead relying on stamina to take down prey. Due to the scarcity of prey, they roam large areas, up to 2,600В km 2 (1,000В sqВ mi), and follow migrating caribou south during the winter, for a food source. Like all wolves, arctic wolves hunt in packs, preying mainly on caribou and muskoxen, but also arctic hares, seals, ptarmigan, lemmings, and smaller animals such as waterfowl. If the ice is too thick, she will move to a den or cave. When the female is pregnant, she leaves the pack to dig a den to raise her pups. Having found an abandoned territory, a lone arctic wolf will claim it by marking the territory with its scent, then gather other lone wolves into its pack. They avoid other wolves, unless they are able to mate. Lone arctic wolves are young males that have left their pack to seek their own territories. The pack works together to feed and care for their pups. They live in small family groups: a breeding pair ( alpha male and female) and their pups. Arctic Wolves usually travel in packs of 2 to 20. They can survive in sub-zero temperatures for years, in absolute darkness for five months per year, and without food for weeks.

The arctic wolf can withstand the arctic weather, with the help in their thoroughly insulated fur. This section does not cite any references or sources. As a result, the details of their lives through much of the year are virtually unknown. Their habitat is extremely harsh and remote, and few scientists venture into that world during the long, dark winter вЂ“ even the vast majority of Inuit live further south than the arctic wolf. The arctic wolf is also the only subspecies of wolf which is not threatened - their remote home means that they are relatively safe from man's activities, both in terms of hunting and habitat destruction. The arctic wolf is the only subspecies of the Gray Wolf that still can be found over the whole of its original range, largely because, in their natural habitat, they rarely encounter humans. When they find a den, they make a couple of chambers for food and young.

They have lived in North America for more than two million years. Their habitat extends from 70В° North latitude and higher. The arctic wolf inhabits the Canadian Arctic and the islands, parts of Alaska and northern part of Greenland. See also: Gray wolf behavior and physiology Habitat and distribution

Arctic wolf agent