Canis lupus pallipes (Indian Wolf)

Canis lupus pallipes is the scientific name of Indian Wolf. The Indian wolf is almost the size of an Alsatian dog, with its body sandy brown, sometimes mixed with black. Its face and limbs are red while the abdomen is somewhat white in color. Other characteristics of the animal include a large skull, long and powerful jaws and an elevated forehead.

The chief representative of the wolf tribe is India is, however, two smaller animals – the woolly wolf of the Himalayas in Kashmir and the Indian wolf of peninsular India.

The wolf is nocturnal is habit and preys on deer, sheep, goat and poultry. Once scattered all over India, the animal has been drastically reduced in number in recent years. Small packs of wolves are now found in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Bihar and the Rann of Kutch. Every year the wolf’s chances for survival in a hostile world become more precarious.

Wolves have successfully resisted extermination thus far, partly because they can exist on a highly varied diet and partly because they have a high birth rate. The female wolf gives birth to six to ten cubs at a time and raises them all carefully, so that many survive. Wolves also survive because of their tightly-knit social organization. They frequently hunt in packs led by their dominant members.

However, in spite of their highly adaptable way of life, most kinds of wolves are now seriously endangered. In India wolves were mostly hunted out of the vicinity of human populations because of the wrong notion that they lift children.