Description: Doglike in appearance, but larger than a big dog. Carries its short, bushy tail above the horizontal when traveling. The gray wolf is almost unbelievably big. Total length 55 to 67 inches. Tail 12 to 19 inches. Height at shoulders 26 to 28 inches. Weight 70 to 170 pounds. These animals show a tremendous variation in color, but the average individual will appear very much like a big German shepherd dog. From this average, they will vary from the almost white coat found in Alaska to the black phase of the red wolf of Texas. The head of the wolf is distinctive. It has a broad face with a wide but short nose. The straw-yellow eyes have round pupils. The ears are short and round, much more like a dog’s than a coyote’s. The feet, in keeping with the rest of the body, are large. The front feet have five toes; as is usual with canines, the first toe or “thumb” does not touch the ground. The hind foot has but 4 toes. These animals have a high reproduction rate. Each year the single litter may consist of from 3 to 4 to as many as 12; the average is assumed to be from 6 to 8. The wolf’s association with man is older than recorded history. When man first gained his ascendency over other mammals, the wolf is believed to have been the progenitor of the dog. As man’s partner in the chase, it helped him become the one superior animal capable of exterminating it. At the present time, man has come close to doing just that. Only a few of these magnificent wild dogs remain in the United States. Those are concentrated mainly in the Southwest, and some of them undoubtedly have come across the border from Mexico. Before long the species probably will become extinct in this country, but the large numbers remaining in Alaska and Canada should persist for many years. Much of the public antipathy for wolves comes from literature. Who, as a child, has not thrilled to the danger that surrounded Little Red Riding Hood, and rejoiced at the ultimate end of the arch villain? Long before animated cartooning took over nursery rhymes, children’s books were well thumbmarked at the page where the “big bad wolf huffed and puffed and blew the house down.” To “keep the wolf from the door” is an expression as full of meaning today as it was in the 15th century when the animal became extinct in England. The wolf has always been a symbol of taking ruthlessly. The genus _lupinus_ (Latin: wolf), a beautiful group of plants of the pea family, is so called because early botanists thought it robbed the soil. The “wolf” so often encountered at house parties is included in this class. None of these characterizations gives a good impression, and all are indicative of man’s feeling toward the wolf. It is most unfortunate that man so often condemns anything which interferes with his own economic progress. Nature has a place for the wolf, a specialized task for which it is admirably adapted.