In 1854, the famous "mad beast trainer", the American Henderson, in order to improve the combat effectiveness of pit bulls, actually locked 3 pit bulls and North American gray wolves in a colosseum, planning to let them kill a big battle, a duel.
However, unexpectedly, as soon as the pit bull saw the North American gray wolf, it clipped its tail, trembled, did not dare to fight at all, and was eventually bitten alive by the gray wolf and devoured. So, how strong are the North American gray wolves? Why are pit bulls so afraid of them?
North American gray wolf
The North American gray wolf is a general term for the subspecies of the North American gray wolf distributed in the northern United States and Canada. They are the largest canids in the world, with black, white and brown coats. The largest of these is the extinct gray wolf subspecies of the Kenai Peninsula wolf, which is said to be up to one meter tall, weigh two hundred pounds, and can be more than two meters long, weighing more than twenty pounds more than the largest wolves today. Today, the largest gray wolf species are the British Columbia wolf and the Canadian timber wolf, and the adult male wolf is 1.8 to 2 meters long, generally weighing 50 to 80 kg, and the largest can even reach 90 kg.
The North American gray wolf, like other wolf species, lives in a hierarchical herd. However, the number of gray wolves in North America is generally small and refined, only about 5 to 10. There are male wolves and female wolves, and the most powerful male wolves dominate all the members of the wolf pack, known as the Wolf King. The Wolf King is the core force of the wolf pack, whether it is hunting prey or clashing with other invading wolves, the Wolf King must first take the lead in the charge. Therefore, the wolf king enjoys absolute authority over the entire wolf pack, and once it catches prey, it must eat it first, and all the female wolves in the wolf pack belong to it alone.
Corresponding to the Wolf King, the strongest female wolf that leads all the female wolves in the team, it forms the core member of the entire group with the Wolf King, and the rest of the wolves are peripheral members. Even the most powerful female wolves will try to prevent the wolf king from mating with other female wolves. In this way, mating takes place only between the wolf king and the strongest female wolf, ensuring that the strongest wolves are born in the pack.
Hunt for mountain lions
In British Columbia, one of the largest subspecies of the North American gray wolf, the Colombian wolf, lives here. Both are the top carnivores in North America, with overlapping food and territory. As a result, there are also frequent fights.
Photographer Peter once took such a picture, a cougar in his territory and the North American gray wolf encountered, the North American gray wolf does not seem to realize that he is being targeted, still humming and enjoying his prey, a recently dead American lion, no one knows, the dead mountain lion was hunted by the North American gray wolf or for some other reason, but this seems to arouse the anger of the mountain lion patrolling here.
But it's clear that the North American gray wolf doesn't want to give up the food in their mouths for the time being. The larger North American gray wolf did not choose to retreat, but became more manic when it found the enemy approaching. The hairs on its body stood upright and rose and fell regularly with the gray wolf's breathing, which made it look more robust, while emitting a low threatening roar from its mouth.
The mountain lion is also a master of hundreds of battles, it is not intimidated by the gray wolf is the momentum, but leaned down, the back is high and bulging, this is the typical feline ambush means, can reduce their exposed body at the same time, the compressed muscles can also give it super explosive power, a fatal blow, this is the art of feline hunting.
The gray wolf took the lead, its larger size making it fearless, and it used the usual swoop, but as the mountain lion moved to the right, its right claw slammed into the right side of the gray wolf's head. The gray wolf's head was tilted a little, and his steps were a little messy, but soon it stood up straight, and its eyes became more and more fierce.
This tentative blow made the gray wolf much more awake from the advantage of size, and the little lion in front of him did not seem to be as simple as it thought. The mountain lion was noticeably more flustered, and it quickly took a few steps back, leaving the main battlefield and constantly looking for a safe distance.
But the gray wolf seemed to be more reluctant to give it time to think, and the pain of being counterattacked further stimulated its ferocity, repeatedly attacking several times. Although the two animals looked indistinguishable, the mountain lion had been driven to the edge of the battlefield.
The cougar was still watching from the edge of the battlefield, and the gray wolf shook his head and went back to eat the cougar that had not yet finished eating. The first round was over. The cougar pretended to exit and took a detour backwards, hiding behind a rock.
The second round began, and the mountain lion chose to attack from behind while the gray wolf was eating happily, and the killing method was obviously to lock the throat. Unexpectedly, the gray wolf bit the neck of the mountain lion instead of a counterattack, and in a panic, the mountain lion stomped on all fours, not knowing whether it was poking the gray wolf or the gray wolf had no intention of killing it, and let the mountain lion run away.
In North America, such combat scenarios occur from time to time. In the fifteen years since gray wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone In 1995, the number of mountain lions has plummeted by 50%, and local ecologists once thought it was caused by poachers, and then after investigation, it was found that the person who threatened the mountain lion was actually the wolf.
Wolves often rob and kill mountain lions and even pee on the faces of mountain lions to swear their sovereignty!
There is a saying in Tibet that there are three wolves fighting a mastiff, and it is certain that it is by no means a North American gray wolf. It is said that an Italian boy once bought an adult North American gray wolf from a second-hand dealer, and in order to prevent it from being stolen, he also let two Tibetan mastiffs to guard, and when he went out for a walk, he returned, and the two Tibetan mastiffs had all been bitten to death.
Druid Peak Wolves
When it comes to wolves, how can we not mention wolves, wolves are where wolves can maximize their combat effectiveness. And when it comes to wolves, you can never avoid the emperors that once existed on this planet: the Druid Wolf Pack. The number of gray wolves in North America is generally around 15 to 20. But the Druid Peak Wolves were at their peak as soon as they appeared, and the Druids Wolves broke the limit of numbers and had as many as 35 members.
The BBC documentary Yellowstone Park is a faithful account of the strongest wolf pack dynasty that once existed on the planet.
The head wolf of the Druid Peak Wolves is a male wolf numbered 21. Zach Stein, the screenwriter who wrote Thor and X-Men: First Battle, praised it as "a combination of Buddha and Batman." It had never lost a battle in its life, nor had it ever killed a single of its men.
Yellowstone Ranger Rick McIntyre, who chronicles the evolution of wolves, said in an interview with Salon, "On two occasions, I saw No. 21 defeat all six alien wolves with one against six. I thought to myself, no wolf can do this, look at it, it's like watching Bruce Lee fight. ”
Before joining on the 21st, the Druid Peak Wolves were just a small pack of wolves that had just lost their head wolf. After joining on the 21st, the Druid Peak wolves expanded wildly, soon expanding from the original few wolves to the peak of 35.
A pair of wolves in the Druid Peak wolf pack are in their prime, and they take the entire pack of wolves to occupy the richest Lamar Valley.
For nine years, the other wolves near the Druid Peak did not dare to go half a step closer to the territory of the Druid Peak Wolves. Over the course of a decade, the population of mountain lions, the original overlord of the Druids, has decreased by nearly 50 percent.
Nine years later, the head wolf gradually aged, but there were no young and strong wolves in the Druid Peak wolf pack to challenge the position of the head wolf, and the elderly old wolf wolf was later killed by other wolves while patrolling the border alone.
They were head wolves until they died. This seems to violate nature's law of the weak and the strong. Why didn't the elderly, prime-aged wolves in the pack improve their status by attacking the head wolf?
The documentary gives its own answer, because the North American winter is so difficult, and the wolves need the leadership of the head wolf if they want to survive the long winter. The two elderly head wolves, though not as powerful as before, know how to survive the following spring.
After the death of the head wolf, in 2010, the last member of the Druid Peak wolf pack was shot by poachers, and the once glorious Druid dynasty was wiped out.
Strength, unity and fortitude are the symbols of the North American gray wolf, and the legend of the Druid Wolf Pack still spreads over the Druid Peak. Although the North American gray wolf does not have the powerful fighting power of the tiger lion, it does not have the rough body of the grizzly bear. But when they come together and form a wolf pack, they are the overlords who sweep through the forests and plains.