Grey wolf

The pack that healed a forest

Wolves live in families called packs and are very loyal to each other. They howl to call one another from 10 km away. The wolf is the ancestor of the dog! When wolves disappeared from Yellowstone Park, deer ate all the trees; when wolves came back, the forest, the birds and even the rivers recovered. Wolves live in Uzbekistan's mountains too.

The grey wolf (Canis lupus) is the largest canid, found across Eurasia and North America; in Uzbekistan it lives in mountains and deserts. It lives in packs of 6–10 led by a parent pair. Howling is long-distance communication and territory marking. It travels 50 km a day and runs prey down by endurance. The return of wolves to Yellowstone in 1995 revealed a 'trophic cascade': elk numbers and behaviour changed, willows and aspens recovered, beavers returned and river channels stabilised — a classic example of a predator's role in an ecosystem. 15,000 years ago humans domesticated the wolf and created the dog.

Fun facts

• A wolf's howl carries 10 km — and every wolf's voice is unique.
• When wolves returned to Yellowstone, the rivers changed course!
• Your dog's DNA is 99.9% the same as a wolf's.