Learning A–Z

Grade
level L
2
Multi-level
Word Count
N/A
449
The Gray
Wolf
Lexile 610L Nonfiction • Informational

Refer to the Focus Question on page 2 of this title to guide

discussion and support additional learning connected to the text.

Gray wolves were once found freely roaming around

the world. Over the past hundred years, however, their
territory and numbers have been drastically decreased.
The Gray Wolf provides students with a detailed looked
at how these fierce predators communicate, raise
families, socialize, and survive. The book can also be
used to teach students how to determine main idea and
details and to effectively ask and answer questions.

Photo Credits:
Front cover: © Jasper Doest/Minden Pictures; title page, page 10: © Tim Fitzharris/Minden Pictures; page 3: © iStock.com/jimkruger;
page 4: © Juniors/SuperStock; page 5: © Xi Zhinong/naturepl/Minden Pictures; page 6 (top): © iStock.com/through-my-lens; page 6
(bottom): Robert E. Barber/Alamy Stock Photo; page 7: © Michael Weber/imageBROKER/age fotostock; page 8 (top): © Loulou Beavers/
NiS/Minden Pictures; page 8 (bottom): imageBROKER/Alamy Stock Photo; page 9: © Donald M. Jones/Minden Pictures; page 11: © Phyllis
Greenberg/Animals Animals/age fotostock; page 12: © M. Watson/ardea.com; page 13: courtesy of NPS; page 15: © Paul Sawer/FLPA/Minden
Pictures

For more great books visit

www.learninga-z.com Written by Ned Jensen
© Learning A–Z, all rights reserved.
The Gray Focus Question
What do you learn about gray

Wolf
wolves from reading this book?

Words to Know
communicate predators
mammals regurgitate
offspring territory

Connections
Writing and Art
Create a poster about the gray wolf. Draw a
picture and label the body parts. Then write at
least five facts about the gray wolf.
Science
The gray wolf is a top predator. Research to
Written by Ned Jensen
learn more about the gray wolf’s food web.
Using the information you learn, make a diagram
to share with your class.
 Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Another name for the gray wolf is the timber wolf.
Wolf Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Introduction
Wolf Packs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Gray wolves are mammals with
Wolf Pups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
thick fur and long, bushy tails . The
Wolf Territory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 largest of all wolves, gray wolves are
predators that can survive in many
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
areas . They live on mountains and
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 in forests and deserts .
The Gray Wolf • Level L 3 4
 Wolf Features
Adult gray wolves are usually just
under a meter (3 ft .) tall at the
shoulder . From their nose to tail,
they are almost 2 meters (more
than 6 ft .) long . A male wolf weighs
around 45 kilograms (100 lb .) but
can weigh as much as 65 kilograms
(143 lb .) . Female wolves are smaller .

Gray wolves are fierce predators .

They can run fast and have
powerful jaws with sharp teeth .
Gray wolves can have
all-white or all-black
coats, even though they
are called gray wolves
(top). Gray wolves’
paws can be as large
as an adult human’s
hand (left).

Gray wolves are not just gray .

Their fur can have many colors,
Gray wolves use their largest sharp teeth to bite animals they hunt.
Then they use their other teeth to crush bones and cut through meat. from white to black .
The Gray Wolf • Level L 5 6
 The pack is made up of one male
leader, one female leader, and their
offspring . The male and female
leaders are called alphas . Each wolf
has a rank or position in the pack,
with the alpha male at the top .

A female leader stands among the other members of her pack.

Wolf Packs
Wolves are social animals . They
live in groups called packs . A pack
usually has six to ten wolves .
Wolves have been known to travel The alpha wolf on the left bares its teeth to other pack members (top).
They move away in fear. The male and female alphas of a wolf pack sit
in packs of up to thirty . together (bottom). Gray wolf alphas usually mate for life.

The Gray Wolf • Level L 7 8

 Licking is a way
that wolves show
respect to alphas.

A pack of gray wolves surrounds an elk and prepares to attack. Wolves

have large paws that help them move quickly and easily across snow.

Pack members use all five of their

Working in packs helps wolves hunt
senses to communicate with each
large animals such as deer, elk,
other . They change the positions of
and moose . They also hunt smaller
their ears and tails to mean different
animals such as rabbits . Wolves
things . They also bark, cry, and
sometimes follow groups of large
howl, as well as smell and lick
animals for days . They look for
each other, to communicate .
weak or hurt animals . Then they
hide and surround a target . When Do You Know?
Every gray wolf’s howl sounds different.
the leader signals, the wolves attack .
The Gray Wolf • Level L 9 10
An alpha female licks her pups at the entrance to their den. Usually, a wolf
den is either a hole dug in the ground or a small cave.

Wolf Pups
Gray wolf pups chase and wrestle each other. Playing is good practice for
Between January and April, the learning to hunt.

alphas mate . Around sixty days The pups nurse for about two
later, the female digs a long tunnel months . Then they enjoy warm
with a den at the end . In the den, meals of meat that their parents
she gives birth to four to six pups . regurgitate for them . The offspring
The pups are born blind and deaf . stay with the pack until they are at
They weigh only about as much as least two years old . Then they leave
a can of soup . to look for mates .
The Gray Wolf • Level L 11 12
 Wolf Territory As people built new towns and
cities, they changed the land . They
Long ago, the sound of a gray wolf’s
drove the wolves away . People also
howl would often break the quiet of
hunted wolves to keep them from
the night . Gray wolves once roamed
killing their cattle and sheep .
freely around the world . However,
over the past hundred years, they The Gray Wolf Around the World

have lost much of their territory .

Gray Wolves on the Rise ASIA

By 1926, gray wolves had been killed off in Yellowstone EUROPE

NORTH
National Park, in the United States. A program started in AMERICA
ATLANTIC
AFRICA PACIFIC
1995 brought wolves back to the park. Scientists wanted the OCEAN
OCEAN
wolves to help keep the numbers of elk in the park under PACIFIC
SOUTH INDIAN
control. In 2016, around one hundred wolves lived in the OCEAN AMERICA
OCEAN
park. Their numbers continue to grow. AUSTRALIA

Gray Wolves Today

KEY
Gray Wolves Long Ago
Source: IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), 2010

Over time, the numbers of gray

wolves in Europe and the United
States dropped . Today, their
Packs of wolves in Yellowstone National Park have different names.
numbers are on the rise again
This is the Gibbon pack.
in some places .
The Gray Wolf • Level L 13 14
 Glossary
communicate (v.) page 10
to use words, pictures, or other means to
make one’s thoughts or ideas known

mammals (n.) page 4

warm-blooded animals with a backbone
and hair or fur that nurse their young
and have babies that are born live

offspring (n.) page 8

A gray wolf’s sense of smell is much stronger than a human’s. In fact, it is
around a hundred times stronger!
an animal’s or plant’s young

Conclusion predators (n.) page 4

animals that hunt and eat other animals
Gray wolves have lost a lot of
territory, but now they are getting regurgitate (v.) page 12
to bring food in the stomach back up
some of it back .
into the mouth
Gray wolves are social animals . territory (n .) an area of land or water
A pack of gray wolves lives and that animals or groups
hunts together . As top predators, of animals defend and live in (p . 13)
gray wolves are important to the
balance of our natural world .

The Gray Wolf • Level L 15 16