Habitat

Wolves are considered to be habitat generalists. This means that as long as their basic needs of food, water, and somewhat secluded denning and rendezvous sites are met, they can adapt to a wide variety of environmental conditions. This includes the tundra of Alaska and Siberia, forestlands, prairies, mountains, the deserts of Mexico and southwestern states and the coastal beaches of British Columbia.

Gray wolves’ favored prey – ungulates – can be found in all these varied habitats in the form of elk, deer, bison, caribou, big horned sheep, and mountain goats. In addition, wolves aren't particularly picky about the smaller prey they will eat. The wolves living on the British Columbia coastline are called the "sea wolves", subsisting mainly on fish and marine mammals. Originally, worldwide, wolves were the most widely distributed of wild mammals.

Wolf Territory Size largely depends on the availability of suitable prey for their family size. The greater the prey base, the smaller the territory can be. An increase in family size can place a demand for increased in territory size which, due to the factors listed above, may or may not be easily attainable. According to USFWS, it is not uncommon for territories to be as large as 50 square miles, but they may even extend up to 1,000 square miles in areas where prey is scarce. Potential lower 48 habitat report.

The Voyageurs Wolf Project studies wolves and their prey (moose, deer, and beavers) during the summer in and around Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota. In a recent post by the Voyageurs Wolf Project, they demonstrate how territorial wolf packs are through the mapping of 68,000 individual GPS locations from 7 wolves in different packs from the summer of 2018. Map - January 2019