Wolves are an extremely social animal. They exist as a social unit called a pack. Wolves travel and hunt in a group and perform almost all other activities in the company of fellow wolves. The pack, the basic unit of wolf social life, is usually a family group. It is made up of animals related to each other by blood and family ties of affection and mutual aid. The core of a pack is a mated pair of wolves -an adult male and female that have bred and produced young. The other members of the pack are their offspring: young wolves ranging in age from pups to two and three-year-olds. Pack sizes...

Able to tolerate years of sub-zero temperatures, up to five months of darkness a year, and weeks without food, the arctic wolf lives in one of the few places on earth where it is safe from the greatest threat of all - man. Arctic wolves inhabit some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world. In April, the air temperature rarely rises above -22° F. The ground is permanently frozen. The arctic wolf is one of the few mammals that can tolerate these conditions. Details of the animal's life through much of the year are virtually unknown.

Wolves usually live in small packs or family groups consisting...