Huge Wolf Stands in the Doorway of a House Only to Playfully Paw Towards the Camera

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You could be forgiven for thinking this is a reenactment of how dogs first became domesticated from the wolves! You can imagine a playful wolf approaching our ancestors who immediately fell in love with them – and the rest is history. The animal featured in this clip is a wolf-dog hybrid. It belongs to a family who have two wolf hybrid pets. One is 40 percent wolf combined with malamute and shepherd. The other is 75 percent wolf combined with malamute and Swiss white shepherd. This adorable wolf-dog is extremely playful and barks just like a domestic dog.

How Do Gray Wolves Normally Behave?

Gray wolves are one of the most wide-ranging land animals. In the US, there are populations in Alaska, northern Wisconsin, northern Michigan, western Montana, northern Idaho, Northeast Oregon, and the Yellowstone area of Wyoming. They used to cover most of the northern hemisphere but habitat destruction and hunting have drastically reduced their populations both in the United States and in Europe.

They are the largest of the wild species of canids and can weigh over 150 pounds. In the wild, they may only live five or six years but in captivity, they can live to be over 15 years. These are highly social animals who live in packs comprising between two and 35 individuals. The pack is led by an alpha male and female. There is a strong dominance hierarchy within the pack.

When and How Were Dogs Domesticated?

The dogs that we know today were domesticated from wolves between 27,000 and 40,000 years ago. It is not clear whether this happened in Europe or Asia or whether it happened in lots of places at the same time. We do know, however, that dogs were the only animals that were domesticated by our hunter-gatherer ancestors. They were also the first animals that humans domesticated.

There are several theories on how and why dogs were domesticated. One school of thought is that humans set out to domesticate wolves so that they could help us with hunting. Other experts believe that it happened accidentally when wolves started to scavenge from human waste dumps. A more recent theory is that humans had a surplus of lean meat which they shared with the wolves. If these wolves were anything like our domestic dogs, the way to the hearts was through the stomachs!