Wolves are sociable animals. They live in packs that include parents, aunts, uncles and pups. Larger packs may have 2 or 3 litters of pups. Some packs have from 2 to 12 wolves in a pack. The average pack usually has 6 to 7 wolves. In a lot of areas packs remain with a territory almost exclusively (that means all the time). Only once in a while they overlap in the ranges of neighboring packs.

Wolves that are mostly dependent on migratory caribou may have to leave their territory and move a long distance if they need to so they can eat.

In Alaska the territory of a pack often includes from 300 to 1,000 square miles of habitat. A wolf usually travels 30 miles a day, traveling at 5 miles an hour.

Every wolf in the pack has a special place or a rank in the pack. The leaders of the pack are called the "alpha male" and "alpha female". They are usually the biggest and the strongest wolves in the pack. There is also a male and a female called the "beta". These are the ones that are not as powerful in the pack as the alpha wolves. The order of dominance in the pack is sort of like the alphabetical order of the pack. This lets everyone in the pack know who the boss is in the pack. It also lets all the wolves know who is above them and who is below them in the pack. This prevents the wolves from fighting with members of the pack who are above them.

The pack has enemies like bears and some germs and parasites. The biggest enemy of the wolf is humans and they are the worst predator of them all for wolves.