Views on wolves

Stories about wolves are always inseparable from their cruelty, cunning and ferocity. The word "wolf coming" truly explains people's fear of wolves. But in fact, the wolf is one of the most misunderstood animals.

Wolf is one of the closest wild animals in the world. Photography/Lin Genhuo

The confrontation between a wolf and a person may not end as you expected.

Wolves are alert, suspicious and relatively timid. When they meet people, they just sit on their hips, hold their forearms on the ground, hold their heads up and stare intently. Probably they can smell people and subdue them, so they all avoid people.

Even if they are hungry, they would rather eat the carcasses of insects and animals such as grasshoppers than attack people actively. If you are hungry and meet people, you don't just jump on them, but choose a good place and observe calmly until people see a wolf scared out of their wits or tell their parents to run around, and it will catch them and eat them.

In a word, it is common for wolves to eat pigs, but the news that wolves attack humans is rare.

Emotional entanglements between humans and wolves

The encounter between wolves and people is more based on the conflict of interests between the two sides. From ancient times to the present, in the confrontation between sheep and wolves, the reason why wolves are branded as vicious and treacherous is not human sympathy for weak sheep, but the embodiment of human eternal interests in sheep. In the era when food is the most important thing, wolves with similar recipes to human beings are naturally important enemies of human survival and development.

For thousands of years, the struggle between man and wolf is the fundamental basis for the emergence of wolf totem and wolf culture. However, wolves are so important to human beings.

If you come to the grassland and walk into a grassland house casually, you may see one or two things related to wolves, such as the spike necklace worn by children, which is considered to ward off evil spirits and prevent disasters.

Wolf totem worship has a long history in northern minority areas. In the communication with friends in Inner Mongolia, we can still vaguely feel the worship of the wolf's survival spirit in their national beliefs. But when specific wolves are mentioned to them, they all gnash their teeth. Perhaps this is why only what people fear and respect can be regarded as totem worship.

Wolves have many unique qualities.

Wolves are one of the most tenacious animals on earth. Photo courtesy/Li Jia

Wolves are very different from other animals. It represents primitive life and wildness, free nature and courage to conquer the world.

The patience of wolves is always amazing. They can remember many subtle personality characteristics and habits of the target group through several days of follow-up observation, so as to identify the most vulnerable people.

Wolves' curiosity about the environment can always make them learn new things, and wolves can focus on actions that can help them achieve their goals.

Although the probability of success is only110, wolves are still the most efficient hunters in nature. Their technology has been tested and improved, and they have to travel thousands of miles every year to find their prey and pay attention to all the clues.

The complex communication system between wolves enables them to constantly adjust their strategies and tactics to succeed.

Wolves' ability to control change makes them one of the most tenacious animals on earth. Wolves will automatically change their breeding speed according to the space they get their prey, so as to keep the number of wolves at an appropriate level. Over the years, the wolf's prey has been constantly changing, but the wolf can skillfully adapt to the available prey and survive tenaciously.