In Julie of the Wolves, the pack of wolves Miyax
tries to join the gray wolf pack so she can survive.
These wolves, like other wolves, travel in packs. They work together to take
down large pray for food such as: moose, caribou, deer and wild horses.
Gray
wolves live along northern forests of Alaska, Minnesota and North Dakota, and
most of Canada.
A female wolf can give birth to 3-8 pups. She carries them for about 63 days
until giving birth. A mother wolf gives birth in a den. The wolf pack will stay
there until the pups are ready to travel. When wolf pups are about 3 weeks old
they are ready to leave the den and join the pack.
In
the book Miyax learns to communicate with the wolves. She found out how to make
them lie down, to show her dominance and to show submission to the alpha male.
Most wolves communicate with expressions of their faces, tail and body movements.
They growl to show territory and their food. The alpha male keeps his tail higher
than the rest in the pack to show his rank. Others in the pack move their tail
to show if they are scared or exited. They howl to communicate with other wolves
and show where they are.
The
alpha male is like the king. He gets privileges like eating first. There is
also an alpha female. The alpha male and female are the only ones that are aloud
to have pups.
When looking for a wolf look for a large German Shepard like dog that is gray,
black, white or silver. Gray wolves can be 3-5 feet long and weigh about 57-130
lbs.
Some people think that wolves are mean and nasty but in real life they are very
social creatures. That’s probably why Miyax chose to stay with them.
