Perhaps the only accusation which has not been made against this much abused creature is that of stupidity. Nobody ever suspected a wolf of want of sense; although Buffon (“Histoire Naturelle”) says, “il devient ingénieux par besoin,” as if he knew of other and more gifted animals who exerted their minds without any need for doing so.
The common representation which people make to themselves of wolves, and which they are most apt to see in pictures, is that of a pack. There is little doubt, however, that packs are accidental and temporary aggregates. They are not composed of family groups. Their members merely unite for an especial purpose, and disperse when this is at an end. Moreover, it is exceptional to find large numbers together in America under any circumstances. Wolves consort in pairs or small detached bands, and pack temporarily and rarely.
Captain James Forsyth (“Highlands of Central India”), speaking of Canis pallipes, an animal whose specific identity with the common form Sir Walter Elliot and Horsfield deny, while Blyth and Jerdon very properly insist upon it, remarks that it is a relatively small and slender beast with comparatively delicate teeth. He gives a narrative of his personal experience which is utterly subversive of many sweeping assertions which have been made upon the subject of their habits and temper.
In the provinces referred to, wolves are very numerous, and are “a plain-loving species.” They “unite in parties of five or six to hunt,” and so far as his observations go, more than these have not been seen together. “Most generally they are found singly or in couples.” The domestic animals upon which these chiefly prey are dogs and goats. “They are the deadly foes of the former, and will stand outside of a village or travellers’ camp, and howl until some inexperienced cur sallies forth to reply, when the lot of that cur will probably be to return no more....
“The loss of human life from these hideous brutes has recently been ascertained to be so great, that a heavy reward is now offered for their destruction. Though not generally venturing beyond children ... yet when confirmed in the habit of man-eating, they do not hesitate to attack, at an advantage, full-grown women, and even adult men. A good many instances occurred during the construction of the railway through the low jungles of Júbbulpúr, of laborers on the works being so attacked, and sometimes killed and eaten. The assault was commonly made by a pair of wolves, one of whom seized the victim by the neck from behind, preventing outcry, while the other, coming swiftly up, tore out the entrails in front. These confirmed man-eaters are described as having been exceedingly wary, and fully able to discriminate between a helpless victim and an armed man.
“In 1861, I was marching through a small village on the borders of the Damoh district, and accidentally heard that for months past a pair of wolves had carried off a child from the centre of the village, in broad daylight. No attempt whatever had been made to kill them, though their haunts were perfectly well known, and lay not a quarter of a mile from the town. A shapeless stone, representing the goddess Devi, under a neighboring tree, had been daubed with vermilion instead, and liberally propitiated with cocoanuts and rice. Their plan of attack was uniform and simple. The village stood on the slope of a hill, at the foot of which was the bed of a stream thickly fringed with grass and bushes. The main street, where children were always at play, ran down the slope of this hill, and while one of the wolves, that one which was smaller than the other, concealed itself among some low bushes between the village and the bottom of the declivity, the other would go round to the top, and, watching for an opportunity, would race down through the street, picking up a child by the way, and make off with it to the thick cover in the nálá. At first the people used to pursue, and sometimes made the marauder drop his prey; but finding, as they said, that in this case the companion wolf usually succeeded in carrying off another of their children in the confusion, while the first was so injured as to be beyond recovery, they ended, like impassive Hindus as they were, by just letting the wolves take away as many of their offspring as they wanted.
“A child of a few years of age had thus been carried off the morning of my arrival. It is scarcely credible that I could not at first get enough beaters to drive the cover where these atrocious brutes were gorging on their unholy meal. At last a few of those outcast helots, who act as village drudges in these parts, were induced to take sticks and accompany my horse keeper, with a hog spear, and my Sikh orderly, with his sword, through the belt of grass, while I posted myself, with a double rifle, behind a tree at the other end. In about five minutes the pair walked leisurely out into the open space within twenty yards of me. They were evidently mother and son; the latter about three parts grown, with a reddish-yellow, well-furred coat, and plump appearance; the mother, a lean and grizzled hag, with hideous pendant dugs, and slaver dropping from her jaws. I gave her the benefit of my first barrel, and she dropped with a shot through both shoulders. The whelp started off, but the second barrel stopped him also, with a bullet in the neck.”
Whenever wolves hunt in numbers, it is that one part may lie in ambush, and the other drive the game, or because they design to assail enemies they are well aware a few could not overcome. These packs only hold together for a short time, and their formation depends upon the accidental presence of several separate bands in the same vicinity who are attracted by a common object, or follow each other’s motions like carrion birds. This is what happens in the neighborhood of remote and isolated settlements in Northern Europe, when human beings are the game they pursue. Within Russian forests and those which lie near lonely villages in Sweden, Norway, and Swedish-Lapland, small packs form as darkness veils the weird, melancholy, desolate beauty of winter landscapes. They meet irregularly, with the vague, fierce feelings of an excited mob. The band is brought together by howlings, and it sweeps outward into the open on an indefinite quest. Woe betide the wolf who gives out during this wild gallop, or slips his shoulder on the frozen crust. Desperation may enable him to conceal the accident for a few strides, but discovery is certain, and he is instantly torn to pieces and devoured. If a fresh trail be found, the pack follows it. Human voices or the sound of sleigh-bells brings down the wolves like a storm-driven cloud. Men often go out with drags fastened to sledges, and as their purpose is simply to kill, and they are prepared, and do not venture too far from the villages, these hunters generally succeed in their undertaking. But not always; many a sleighing party of this kind has not returned, neither men nor horses. Many a belated wayfarer and party of travellers have never reached their journey’s end. A fleet horse will for a time outrun wolves, even when by stealthy approaches they have almost closed around him, and this the author knows from experience; but it will not answer to go far, for in that case the fugitive will certainly be caught.
Turning now to the most celebrated, as well as the largest and fiercest member of this family, we find that the Scandinavian wolf is in many places increasing in numbers, despite the various means which are made use of for its destruction. L. Lloyd (“Scandinavian Adventures”) ascribes this to immigration from Russia and Finland. However this may be, recent writers still echo the lamentations of Olaus Magnus, and of quaint old Bishop Pontappidan (“Natural History of Norway”) to the effect that the country is overrun by them. Thus Von Grieff asserts that in many localities “the wolf taxes the peasant higher than the crown,” and J. A. Strom expresses himself to much the same effect.
A wolf will eat any sort of flesh, irrespective of its kind or condition, and when pressed by hunger he consumes vegetable substances also. Pontappidan says that one was killed whose “stomach was filled with moss from the cliffs and birch tops.” Humboldt states that famishing wolves swallow earth like the Otomac Indians on the Orinoco.