The grey wolf
The day slowly breaks and delicately deposits fresh morning dew drops on the gently quivering spider webs. A golden light caresses the foliage of the pines, beech and chestnut trees. In a dark and secret nook of the forest, an elegant and slender silhouette suddenly appears. We catch a furtive, yet deeply satisfying glimpse of this formidable animal. The wolf is majestic, untamed and wild. It stealthily makes its way through the forest, the wind gently caressing its thick fur. It has an incredibly intense gaze and the silence surrounding the wolf is simply mesmerizing. Suddenly, the silence is broken by its primal howl.
The big bad wolf?
Since time immemorial, the wolf has fascinated mankind. Revered, hated, feared, the stuff of legends… Countless stories, fables and nursery rhymes describe it as the big bad wolf whose path you had better not cross, a savage animal that gobbles up innocent little children and fragile grand-mothers… But in fact, the wolf only kills to eat, not for fun. He preys on weakened animals in their natural habitat because they are easier to catch, and never attacks humans.
Mankind on the other hand has always hunted wolves. For a long time, wolves were persecuted. It is only in the late 20th century that the desire to protect wolves appears. Nonetheless, wolves continued to be hunted to near extinction. The cohabitation between this wild animal and man has always been complicated. Considered as an enemy that attacks livestock, the wolf population is currently regulated and poached in many countries. For a long time, wolves populated this neck of the woods, before leaving the area. Wolves have only recently returned to the area.
Social life
The wolf is a social animal and lives in a pack, a family group, on a clearly defined territory. The pack is composed of a male and a female (referred to as the breeding pair), of their cubs and the young from their previous litters. The pack defends its territory and the members protect each other. The pack is structured according to a very specific hierarchy. Its family structure as well as the respect and attachment the members have for each other is actually quite similar to that of a human family.
Did you know that?
Wolves possess an extremely well developed sense of hearing and smell. But their eyesight is actually rather poor.
Wolves have powerful jaws, bearing 42 teeth. A wolf can wolf down about 1/5 of its weight in a single meal! Needless to say, this is also where the expression stems from… In French we say “j’ai une faim de loup” (literally: I am as hungry as a wolf) when we want to say we’re are famished.
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Discover the European Big 5
The bison, the wolverine, the wolf, the lynx and the brown bear
