Endangered Species: *[NAME OF SPECIES]*

Endangered Species: Arctic Wolf

Christiansburg Elementary School
Submitted by: Thinkeret, Grade 5
Christiansburg Virginia U.S.A.

Arctic Wolf

http://www.artlithos.com/sum.htm

Why Study This Topic?	What Was Already Known	Search for Information	Description of Plant or Animal	Habitat Requirements
Adaptations	Reasons for Endangerment	Restoration Actions	What Was Learned	Conclusions from Research

Why Study This Topic?

I want to know this animal's habitat (where it lives), what it eats, what eats it, how it survives, and what it needs to live. I also want to know what it looks like. For example, how big it is, how tall and long it is, and how much it weighs. I also wonder what colors it could be. Does it have a favorite food? Does it live in packs or by itself? I want to know what animals it gets along with and which animals are its enemy. I also need to know how well it smells, how good is its eyesight, how many pups are in a litter, at what age must it move out and become an adult.
I am interested in the Arctic wolf because it is such a neat animal. It can run fast and kill animals larger than itself - such as caribou. I am also interested in all animals, not just the wolf. I want to help them stay alive and not become extinct, like other animals. Some animals are amazing and some are good for people for food, for medicine, and for cheering them up. Animals are a great creation. I don't want them to become extinct.

What Was Already Known

    I knew that the Arctic wolf lived in the Arctic. I also knew that it is related to dogs. Arctic wolves live in packs and eat caribou. I didn't know much about this animal until I started researching it.
    I think it is a neat animal because it can tackle caribou, which are like big deer. It also weighs about 500 pounds, and it takes about four wolves to take it down.
    I didn't know the reason for the endangerment I just thought, like most animals that it's habitat was being destroyed. I still don't know, but I will find out.
    Whatever the reason is, I hope it will stop. I think it is a cute animal and it would be terrible to lose. Even though it might eat livestock, it has to live. I hope no more animals, not any, will become extinct.

Search for Information

I searched all over the Internet to find information on my animal, the wolf. The places I searched are: Yahoolagins, Burmingham Zoo, and Searhasaurus. I also searched the World Book Encyclopedia. Yahoolagins and the encyclopedia had good information, but Burmingham Zoo and Searchasaurus weren't very informative.
Sometimes there were errors and I couldn't get into some places on the Internet, that annoyed me. It was also annoying when I couldn't find enough information.

Description of Plant or Animal

The Arctic wolf is about five to six and a half feet long, and two and a half feet tall at the shoulder. It weighs 75 to 120 pounds. A male is closer to 120 pounds and the female is closer to 75 pounds. It is the shape of a large dog. Its head and tail are bigger than a dog's. Its legs are longer for running faster to catch prey. It is either pure white or a grey-white color. This color makes it camouflaged, so if anything or anyone is hunting it, it will be harder to find.

Habitat Requirements

    This animal is a carnivore; therefore it eats only meat, it doesn't eat any plants or vegetables. It does eat caribou, moose, elk, bison, and musk oxen.
    It gets water from wherever it can find it, not a certain place.
    The Arctic wolf likes to live on high elevations. It also likes open areas which are in the tundra.
    It needs lots of space to run and hunt big animals, and to train its pups to hunt. It also likes to have fun and roll around, and that takes a lot of space.

Adaptations

    The wolf's predator is the human. It sounds funny, you would expect an animal, but it's true. The wolf's pelt is very valuable and it is killed for it. Many things and decorations are made from its pelt.
    People also think wolves will attack them so, they will kill the wolves because they're scared. People think that from stories that use "The Big Bad Wolf " and because their teeth are big, but it's not true. The wolf is actually more afraid of humans then humans are of it. The wolf won't attack a human.
    The Arctic wolf is white. That color makes it camouflage to the snow. It has long legs to run fast and capture its prey, which is a big animal and can run fast too.

Reasons for Endangerment

As you know the Arctic wolf is endangered. There are a couple reasons that cause its endangerment. One is because of its pelt ( its fur ). Its pelt is very soft and beautiful. people like to kill healthy wolves, just to get their pelt, either to keep it for themselves, orto sell it for a lot of money. Another reason is because of stories and legends and fairy tales. In lots of stories there is a " Big Bad Wolf". That makes people afraid of wolves, and they think that the wolves will attack them. So, to protect themselves and their families, they will shoot and kill a wolf. But it's not true, a wolf is more afraid of you, then you are of it. The only reason a wolf will attack is to rescue its pups from danger. A wolf is really not a bad animal.

Restoration Actions

People have invented reserves for animals that are endangered, and they are being used to save the Arctic wolf. What happens is, certain people go and capture a male and female wolf. Then they bring them both to the reserve and let them free there. In some time the wolves will reproduce and there will be more wolves in the reserve. After they reproduce the people let the wolves out in the wild. They have just helped the wolf population.

What Was Learned

` From this project I learned a lot about the Arctic wolf. I learned its predator, man, its prey, caribou; elk; bison etc. , that it's endangered, and its weight, about 100 pounds, and length, about five feet. I also learned a lot about computers, since we had to use them so much. I learned how to search the Internet, how to do Power Point, how to get information off the computer, and more.

Conclusions from Research

    My research benifits from this project are getting to use the computer more, and learning about computers and the Arctic wolf .
    I love computers. Whenever I have a chance to get on a computer, I will take it. Before this project, we just had computer lab on Fridays. After we started we used it on Thursdays and Fridays. Now we have it Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays. If you like computers and you are doing this project, you are lucky.
    I learned a lot more about computers from this project too. Such as power point. I didn't used to know how to do power point, I didn't even know what it was. I had never even heard of it ! This was a grear learning project.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/s...mmals/dog/Arcticwolfprintout.shtml
http://www.nature.ca/notebooks/english/arcwolf.htm
http://www.artlithos.com/sum.htm
http://www.wolf.org/gallery/rogers/32.jpg
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/canis/c._lupus_lycaon
http://www.mcps.org/ces/TechnoZoo/arctic.html

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Christiansburg Elementary

Last updated on January 25, 2000