Wolf Chat

Discuss wolves. (News, sightings, conservation, status, etc.)

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Re: Wolf Chat

Post by Jeames » Wed Dec 02, 2015 5:43 am

wolfadore wrote:
Canidae wrote:I'm sure a lot of you know what happens to some dogs when you scratch them right on the arch of their back, right? Sometimes they get chills, and/or their rear legs will tremble, and/or the muscles in the entire back portion of their body will tense up and they'll kinda fall over a bit.


But did you know this works on wolves, too? xD I've seen it done to two different wolves. I've done it to Shadow, an older wolf I worked with. And one time at a wolf sanctuary, they brought out a very habituated captive wolf named Forest, and my dad did it to him. xD It made everybody in the crowd laugh--nobody had ever seen a wolf display that silly behavior before.
huh. I never have seen that behavior in my dogs before! I will have to try it. I think it is probably because that is the spot where they can't see and are more vulnerable.
My dog has never done that before, even when I tried. She does try to scratch herself though when I scratch her neck, but I guess that's a different spot so a different thing.

But that some wolves, just like dogs, actually repsond to that. That's pretty cool. xD
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Re: Wolf Chat

Post by SilkenGalaxy » Wed Dec 23, 2015 10:04 am

Semper Solus wrote:
wolfadore wrote:
Canidae wrote:I'm sure a lot of you know what happens to some dogs when you scratch them right on the arch of their back, right? Sometimes they get chills, and/or their rear legs will tremble, and/or the muscles in the entire back portion of their body will tense up and they'll kinda fall over a bit.


But did you know this works on wolves, too? xD I've seen it done to two different wolves. I've done it to Shadow, an older wolf I worked with. And one time at a wolf sanctuary, they brought out a very habituated captive wolf named Forest, and my dad did it to him. xD It made everybody in the crowd laugh--nobody had ever seen a wolf display that silly behavior before.
huh. I never have seen that behavior in my dogs before! I will have to try it. I think it is probably because that is the spot where they can't see and are more vulnerable.
My dog has never done that before, even when I tried. She does try to scratch herself though when I scratch her neck, but I guess that's a different spot so a different thing.

But that some wolves, just like dogs, actually repsond to that. That's pretty cool. xD
Me and my sister actually discovered this with our dogs! Our big dog, Cindy, was itchy on her back, and when my sister went to scratch it, Cindy started thumping her leg and wagging her tail and she had a smile on her face XD

And then we tried it with our little dog, Daisy, and she did it too, but much faster, it's entertaining to see

But I didn't know wolves did it too! I wish I could see that!

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Re: Wolf Chat

Post by SiragussWolf » Wed Dec 30, 2015 9:24 am

I didn't knew that it actually works on wolves xD I did'n even know that it was on the back, I think it was in the belly, like my dog o0

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Re: Wolf Chat

Post by Angel Mercy » Sun Jan 24, 2016 4:18 pm

Wolves facinate me. Not as much as big cats but they are very majestic. I just love their pelt colors. If I owned one it would be a black wolf for sure And i would name it ironhide.
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Re: Wolf Chat

Post by iMoonRise » Tue May 03, 2016 9:12 pm

Wolves are probably one of the most majestic and beautiful creatures out there. They have been my favorite animals since I can remember. Actually they became my favorite animals after my older cousin introduced me to WolfQuest when I was like 10. :D
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Re: Wolf Chat

Post by LakotaTheOmega » Thu May 05, 2016 4:19 am

^^I agree, wolves are very majestic and possibly mysterious animals too. There's just something about them, maybe their majestic-ness and mysterious-ness, that really gets to me. It's also a shame that they are misunderstood creatures as well :( although come to think of it some of the most majestic animals are also the most misunderstood.
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Re: Wolf Chat

Post by Koa » Thu May 05, 2016 9:10 am

LakotaTheOmega wrote:^^I agree, wolves are very majestic and possibly mysterious animals too. There's just something about them, maybe their majestic-ness and mysterious-ness, that really gets to me. It's also a shame that they are misunderstood creatures as well :( although come to think of it some of the most majestic animals are also the most misunderstood.
So, what makes you think wolves are misunderstood? If anything, public opinion about wolves has changed to something more positive-- perhaps excessively so.
Koa wrote:I think the opinion about wolves is actually changing; there are many people who share similar thoughts and feelings about wolves being "misunderstood." The attention,"fighting back" and "protection" is somewhat excessive and, for certain wolves, unwarranted. Do not forget to acknowledge wolves as predators. They are and will act as such.

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Re: Wolf Chat

Post by alethe » Thu May 05, 2016 3:46 pm

The public opinion with younger people on wolves is sickeningly positive, to the point where I've seen many young wolf fans (many, not all) forget that they are indeed wild animals who will maul your face off. They aren't saints who only kill the weak and wounded. They're hunters and dangerous.

That doesn't mean they aren't beautiful, though. There are many dangerous things that are beautiful. Like the stars. They'll melt your face off but they're pretty.


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Re: Wolf Chat

Post by Kamaal » Thu May 05, 2016 4:31 pm

Skybreaker wrote:The public opinion with younger people on wolves is sickeningly positive, to the point where I've seen many young wolf fans (many, not all) forget that they are indeed wild animals who will maul your face off. They aren't saints who only kill the weak and wounded. They're hunters and dangerous.

That doesn't mean they aren't beautiful, though. There are many dangerous things that are beautiful. Like the stars. They'll melt your face off but they're pretty.
The last bit made me laugh quite a bit, but as Koa and Skybreaker clearly said, wolves remain wild animals they are not household pets. I do admire them as well, but keeping a safe distance from them is a wise choice.
I ran out of snarky remarks, unfortunately.
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Re: Wolf Chat

Post by alethe » Thu May 05, 2016 5:03 pm

"wolves are like stars, they'll melt your face off"-skybreaker

anywho, another thing I forgot to add in my last post. I think part of the issue is that people enjoy applying human traits to animals. Which is fine, in a story setting, but in the real world they aren't really the same thing as humans.

Sure, humans are animals; I won't deny that. But humanizing animals, especially wild ones, is very dangerous for the species as a whole because it makes people less weary of them and more likely to be hurt as a result.


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Re: Wolf Chat

Post by Koa » Thu May 05, 2016 10:54 pm

Ever-green wrote:
  • I think the internet played a role in over representing the wolf. I know very few people in real life who are "fans" of wolves, but internet subcultures seem to have been created out of them (furries, werewolves, animal roleplayers, etc.).
I'd say too that Facebook and other sites that encourage "sharing" or signing petitions for example have played a part in the amount of attention that wolves receive. People perceive the wolf to be misunderstood and perhaps one way that feeling spread is through mass usage of social media to advocate for the wolf. (This is certainly not unique to the wolf, but perhaps this "sharing" is exacerbated by the prevalence of the subcultures you mentioned as well as other groups e.g. environmental advocacy groups).

I remember when I was reading over one of the proposals to delist wolves and in the submitted comments, people were posting en masse this message that some advocacy group had written out, word-for-word. I was profoundly struck by how people were simply pasting the message and not taking care to at least write out their own thoughts. I know that (again) such an incident is not unique to wolves in the least and is perhaps a consequence of the internet and one's personal practice of/what they believe to be "doing good" by the internet, but I feel that the mindless, copy-paste and "sharing" mentality captures the current, casual perception of the wolf perfectly.

I don't know anyone specifically who is a fan of wolves; however, I know a few folks who are quite the animal activists and one did not take kindly to one of my comments on how one proposed wolf hunt wouldn't endanger the wolves in that area and cause them to go extinct.

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Re: Wolf Chat

Post by Koa » Sat May 07, 2016 9:27 am

Ever-green wrote:
  • Oh yeah, it's something to see what people believe and post about online with their profiles. Any topic is fair game for crazy and pseudo-science! Sometimes it gets so confusing reading comment chains on Facebook that I don't even know what is happening anymore or what the original topic was.

    I wonder if part of the reason wolves seem to stick out over other charismatic megafauna for people is their relatedness to the dog, a very familiar animal. Perhaps people see the wolf as some sort of ultimate dog. When I think of the Balto cartoon this makes a lot of sense. Or White Fang.

    Maybe it is also because wolves are located in First World regions (N. America, Europe, etc.). Maybe these societies have decidedly different attitudes about conservation, due to being largely urbanized people who are mostly disconnected from nature. I mean, I don't see the same online hype about tigers from Russians and Indians and Asians.

    I think the first chapter of that Wolves: Ecology, Behaviour and Conservation book mentions that the social structures of packs mirror human groups pretty well too, and is part of their appeal.
I would definitely say that the wolf's "resemblance" to the dog could be a factor. I feel that at times certain owners actually take pride in their dog "resembling" a wolf even though said dog is clearly different from a wolf (take breeds like the husky and of course actual wolf-hybrids). Perhaps that is a cause, too.

I haven't read the first chapter of Wolves, but I could see that side, as well.

I'd actually like to make a topic just to discuss the question "Why do you think wolves are popular?" if one doesn't exist already. I know I made one on the topic of wolf preservation and whether or not they were too preserved. I think the other topic dealt with the media? I'll have to check.


EDIT:
http://www.wolfquest.org/bb/viewtopic.p ... a#p2150258

Do you think that thread could encompass the proposed discussion? Some of the comments seem to drift into some reasons why wolves are so popular.

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Re: Wolf Chat

Post by LakotaTheOmega » Sun May 08, 2016 1:24 am

Koa wrote:
LakotaTheOmega wrote:^^I agree, wolves are very majestic and possibly mysterious animals too. There's just something about them, maybe their majestic-ness and mysterious-ness, that really gets to me. It's also a shame that they are misunderstood creatures as well :( although come to think of it some of the most majestic animals are also the most misunderstood.
So, what makes you think wolves are misunderstood? If anything, public opinion about wolves has changed to something more positive-- perhaps excessively so.
Koa wrote:I think the opinion about wolves is actually changing; there are many people who share similar thoughts and feelings about wolves being "misunderstood." The attention,"fighting back" and "protection" is somewhat excessive and, for certain wolves, unwarranted. Do not forget to acknowledge wolves as predators. They are and will act as such.
That might be true, but there are people out there who still believe in the lies and fantasies made up centuries ago.
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Re: Wolf Chat

Post by Kamaal » Sun May 08, 2016 12:43 pm

^ I'll have to agree with Ever, but a new topic specifically for this question wouldn't harm anyone.
I ran out of snarky remarks, unfortunately.
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Re: Wolf Chat

Post by Koa » Sun May 08, 2016 2:07 pm

Thanks for the opinions! I'll make a new thread I guess and link to the broader thread in the description.
LakotaTheOmega wrote:That might be true, but there are people out there who still believe in the lies and fantasies made up centuries ago.
It would help if you were more specific. What lies, exactly?

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