As the largest members of the canine family, GREY WOLVES, can actually be white, black, tan, brown or grizzled—a combination of tan, brown and black. A wolf's lifespan is an average of seven years in the wild and twelve in captivity. Wolves have strong jaws, with 42 teeth—20 on their upper jaws and 22 on their lower jaws—making for the largest bite pressure of any canid. Wolves are known to crush large bones in just a few bites. 

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POPULATION STATUS LEAST CONCERN:: At one time gray wolves had the largest natural ranges of any terrestrial mammal in the northern hemisphere. Human expansion in the western states displaced the wolves and conflict began. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 reestablished wolf populations and provided legal protection of unregulated killing and poisoning of gray wolves by humans. By  2010 the population had reached a successful size in the Rocky Mountains.

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