What if you wished you were a wolf. Then you became a wolf pup.

Could you play like a pup? Talk with howls and growls?

Grow up in a wolf family? And would you want to? Find out!

Where would you live? Wolves live all over the northern part of the world.

They can be found in forests, grasslands, and mountains.

They even live in the cold Arctic, near the North Pole.

Wolves look like big dogs. They act like dogs, too.

That's because they are dogs: wild dogs.

Wolves don't live in houses. 

Wolves live far from people with their own wolf families.

What would your family be like? A wolf family is called a pack.

The pack has a mother, a father, and wolf kids, called pups.

Young adults help take care of their little brothers and sisters.

A big brother or sister plays with the young pups and watches for danger

while the rest of the pack goes hunting for food.

How would you learn to be a wolf? 

Wolf pups watch adult wolves and copy what they do.

Pups practice hunting by playing with each other.

They chase and wrestle. They will use these skills to hunt animals for food.

What would you eat? Wolves eat meat from deer, elk, caribou, moose, and bison.

Wolf packs work together to hunt these large animals.

Adult wolves eat lots of meat. 

Then the adults throw up mushy meat for the young pups to eat.

Thrown-up meat is easy for pups to chew with their little teeth.

How would you wash up?

Like all dogs, wolves wash up by licking their own fur.

Mother wolves lick their pups until they are big enough to bathe themselves.

How would you talk?

When wolves have something to say they lift their noses and HOWL!

A wolf pack howls together to say, "We're a great team!"

When wolves are apart they howl to tell others,

"I'm over here!" Howls can be heard for many miles.

Wolves make other sounds, too.

A bark means, "Watch out!'' 

Whimpering means, "Let's be friends.

Adult wolves growl to say, "Back off!"

But pups growl for fun when they play.

Wolves talk with their bodies, too.

A wolf shows its teeth to say, "Leave me alone."

Wolves say hi by wagging tails, sniffing, and rolling upside down.

How would growing up change you?

Pups begin hunting with the pack when they are six months old.

By age three, wolves are full grown.

When they grow up, many wolves leave their parents to find mates from other packs. These wolves start new packs with pups of their own.

Being a wolf could be cool for a while

But do you want to live outdoors?

Lick yourself clean? Eat thrown-up meat?

Luckily, you don't have to.

You're not a wolf. You're YOU!