How many babies can a wolf have? How long do wolf pups stay with their mom?
How many babies does a wolf have per pregnancy?
A female wolf can give birth to something around 4 to 6 puppies per pregnancy. However, rare scenarios of wolves giving birth to 8 to 14 pups at a time have also been reported both in the wild and in Zoos.
So, we can state that on an average wolves can give birth to 4 to 6 puppies per pregnancy, that’s the normal rate as often reported. But, sometimes fewer pups are also born and sometimes more.
Wolves mate for life and will usually be pregnant to give birth once a year. However, environmental factors like food availability, temperature, and social well-being can also directly impact their rates of getting pregnant.
Pups (baby wolves, also called puppies) when are born together, then in a group they are called Litter. Brothers and sisters when born together are called “litter mates.”
So, the pups born after one pregnancy cannot be referred to as belonging to the same litter with those already grown-up pups that were born a year ago from the same mother.
In other words, only those puppies that were born at a time are strictly to be considered a single litter, and so cannot be included into another litter.
Wolves usually mate during the starting months of the year, in anywhere between January to March months.
The pups will start hunting after they get six months old, and that they will start breeding between 2 and 3 years of age.
As already mentioned that females usually give birth in litters of four to six pups at a time inside their den. And this so because of the biological phenomenon of Multiple birth techniques in them.
Multiple birth process defines the biological process that caused the delivery of more than one offspring in a single birth event. This is so because the female wolf can produce many egg cells from their ovaries to be fertilized by the male’s sperm.
Their gestation period is about 62 to 75 days (normally around two months), meaning that the mother will carry the young in her womb for only about two months time period normally.
However, instances of pre-mature delivery of offspring in about 1.5 months have also been reported.
How many pups are in a wolf litter? How many wolf pups survive in a litter?
There are about four to six pups in a wolf litter that were all born together. They are well-nourished by their mother till the age of six to nine weeks. Older siblings, and also their other family members care for them till they become adolescents at the age of 32 weeks.
It has been also seen that till two weeks of age they completely remain inside their den and feed only on mother’s milk. And, by three weeks of age, they start eating meat.
If the pack is large and protective then chances are there that almost all of the puppies will survive. However, such scenarios of all of the pups surviving are not so common in the wild.
It has been reported that roughly 30% of pups in a litter survive from birth to 1 year of age. This means that at least one or two pups among six of them are likely to survive and become adults.
Their rate of survival is too low because when they are small they are very prone to be vulnerable and getting killed due to various diseases, and immature accidents.
Also that the wolves from other packs can attack and kill the pups if they are not well protected by their parents.
Young pups are also very easy prey to various predators like Eagles, Grizzly bears, Polar bears, Tigers if they are left unprotected by the pack.
Those that are grown up and start to hunt at the age of around 32 to 35 weeks may also starve to survive as the late winter season approaches. As during this season of the year, it is really very hard for them to get prey.
However there are various other reasons as of why wolf predation patterns would be drastically different in summer as compared to that of the winter even though the total number of prey remains the same. One such reason can be the availability of less vulnerable prey species although the prey population remains the same.
So prey must be vulnerable to predation for wolves to kill them. For example, in summer there could be 1,000 deer in a wolf’s territory but if all the deer are in superb physical condition, then there would be very few deer that would be vulnerable or “available” to wolves to be easily killed. Yet, in winter, when these 1,000 deer are in poor physical condition, there could be a large number of vulnerable deer available to wolves.
So, their physical strength, abilities, and hunting experiences are also the key factors that determines the availability of prey to them for a better survival.
The survival of the puppies also depends on various environmental factors like food availability, temperature change, etc.
During times of scarcity of food, it has been also reported that the wolves from other packs are much more likely to attack the along and young wolves of another pack to make up an easy kill.
How long do wolf pups stay with their mom?
Till the age of 6 weeks, they remain close to their mother. And after 6 weeks, they are seen to join in the activities with the pack and become full-grown adults by 32 weeks.
So, at least till the age of 24 to 32 weeks, they tend to remain with their pack and after that, as they grow up they may either choose to remain or get out of their pack based on their own or the other pack members’ wish.
Depending on the choice they may leave their pack and go to form one of their own by finding an all-new territory. Males often leave, while females choose to stay in the pack they were born into.
In the wild, it has been also reported that the male pups once they reach the age of 32 weeks are expelled from the pack by the dominant members and so as a result they become nomads until they are old and strong enough to try to take over another pack or form one of their own.
As such, many adult males who weren’t able to form a pack of their own or take over another pack remain nomads for life.
Others lead a semi-nomadic life, while many males get successful in getting their own territory and mates and soon start to form their own pack in no time.
In the social behaviours of wolves, it has been seen that in most of the cases only the alpha male and alpha female of the pack mates and have pups, while rest of the pack members get little to no chance of mating.
So, in order to exert their power, sexuality, dominancy, once sexual maturity is reached, most male wolves leave their birth pack.
Sometimes, females are also seen to leave their birth pack when in heat just in order to search for a new male mate for life, and also in search of her new upcoming pack’s territory.
Do wolves kill their own pups? Do wolves eat their own pups?
It is very rare that the wolves will kill their own pups. However, cruel wolves from other packs can try to sneak peek and kill the pups of another pack if they are not well protected by their parents.
Wolves are very social animals and so the family members of a pack are always concerned about raising their young ones till the pups become adults and are able to lead a life of their own.
Wolves are social creatures that depend on one another and have stronger family bonds. So, they will have no reason to kill baby wolves within their pack.
If in case the father wolf inspects an upcoming danger to their pack, mate, and the pups then he may often kill wolves in rival packs, including their pups. Such cases have been reported in the wild, mostly in the Alaskan Wolves.
As the young wolves become adults and take active participation in their birth packs then it has been reported that they may kill older wolves that may even have been their own parents, if they’re in rival packs.
However, instances of adult wolves that have now formed their own packs can also attack their birth pack’s members including their father and mother if they find any threat to their own pack and pups.
And so, Do wolves eat their own pups? Yes, in nature when food is very hard to come during times of harsh conditions, then at that time it has also been reported that the wolve members may feed on the carcasses of their dead pups if their pups get immature death. However, the wolves will not kill their own pups knowingly to feed on them.
Also, during times of excessive scarcity of food, members from other packs can attack the pups of another pack to make easy prey and feed on them. However, such instances are very rare as they often avoid eating their own species, but may not avoid killing one if they think of doing so.
When do wolves have pups?
Wolves mate during the late winter season that is between the January to March months of the year. And, after 2 months of the gestation period, the mother will give birth to her pups in the late Spring season of the year that can be anywhere between late April to June months.
The mother gives birth to her pups usually inside a deep den excavated as much as 10 feet into well-drained soil.
However, many of the wild species have also been reported to making their delivery place inside a hollow log, cave, tree with overhanging branches.
Whatever may be the place, their only purpose is to protect the pups from the intruders and other prey animals till the time the pups are at least 2 weeks old.
At birth, wolf pups are deaf and blind and survive by feeding only on mother’s milk till the age of at least 3 weeks. So, it is very obvious that they need utmost protection like these.
When the pubs become three weeks old they start to feed on meat brought by their pack members.
And, as they get 32 weeks old, and as the winter approaches, they start to feed by making their own kills with or without the support of their pack members.