The gray wolf, or ordinary (Canis lupus), is a carnivorous mammal that is a member of the Canidae family. This animal is one of the largest representatives of the entire Wolf family: its body can be up to 160 cm long and its height at the withers - 50 cm. And this is with a body weight that often reaches 80 kg.
This article will tell you about the name of the wolf’s dwelling and how it looks, as well as how and at what time of the year the beast suits him.
Lair
This word is called the place of long rest of some predatory mammals. Most often it refers to the wolf. In the lair, these animals also breed offspring, spending a long time here: tentatively - from March-April to late autumn, until the wolf cubs grow up.
Since wolves in the early spring, winter, autumn periods mainly lead a nomadic way of life, they prefer shelters hidden from random eyes as a daytime (as you know, wolves hunt at night), especially in wet and windy weather. When it is warm and relatively quiet, they can lie openly, however, only on condition that this area is rarely visited by people and there are no settlements nearby.
How is the dwelling of the beast arranged?
The burrow for breeding - the den (the so-called dwelling of a wolf) - is usually arranged by a she-wolf. To do this, she uses shelters created by nature itself - crevices in the mountains, pits covered with bushes, hollows in the walls of ravines, niches in cliffs along river banks - the so-called "canopies". Or just dense thickets of weeds and shrubs, abundant deadwood or pits under ridges — uprooted trees during a storm — can also descend as a lair. There were even cases when wolves used old military trenches for shelter.
The former badger’s burrow, foxes (if this is a forest zone), arctic fox (in the tundra area), and groundhog (in the steppe) may well become a lair (as the wolf’s dwelling is otherwise called). Adapting the hole for himself, the wolf usually remodels it, but does not deepen it, but expands it. The wolf does not need a deep hole: the lair is a shelter located close to the surface.
In some cases, the she-wolf can dig a lair on her own. She does this only in sandy or other rather loose soil. As always, the "homemade" will be a shallow hole, with up to three exits.
What is it like?
A lair dug in the ground consists of no more than a meter and a half trench. Next is the corridor, which is half a meter in diameter, from two to three in length, rarely up to ten meters. The course ends with a nesting chamber that does not have a litter. The camera settings are approximately 150 x 100 x 70 cm.
But the same name is given to the housing of wolves not only in the steppes and tundra terrain. In mountainous areas, wolves can equip their dens much closer to the earth's surface - in crevices, caves and in depressions under stones. Naturally, the corridor will be much shorter.
In Belarus, there are known cases of finds of wolf cubs in large hollows of old fallen trees.
Wolves are usually reluctant to leave their homes, often during the mating season, they return to them, that is, the den is usually arranged for a long time. There were cases when even regular raids could not force the wolves to look for another home.
Only extreme circumstances such as fires or human activities (draining swamps, deforestation, laying roads, clearings, etc.) can force them to leave asylum.
Where is it located?
Most often, the lair, the so-called dwelling of a wolf, can be found on the southern or southwestern slopes of hills, hills, river banks. Such places are well warmed up by the sun in the spring, snow is more likely to leave them. In addition, the lair is settled by wolves near a watering hole - a natural reservoir (river, stream, lake, pond, etc.). As a rule, this is a distance of half a kilometer, but in the steppe zones, hunters found refuge for wolves and more than ten kilometers from the river.
Since wolf cubs are born and spend the first months of life in the lair, it must meet basic safety standards: before entering there is a well-viewed "playground" for young animals. Outside it is usually located natural shelters in the form of thickets or stone passages and labyrinths (when it comes to highlands), which allow adult wolves and young growth to quickly hide when the threat approaches.