NaturesFan
IX8A6872
#111 in Explore:
www.flickr.com/explore/2016/01/17
www.facebook.com/steven.szabo.94/photos_albums
Dogs vs wolves
Larry's comment has brought to my attention an interesting point about these wolves: some of them indeed "look like" dogs since they are so playful and clean and that's because these wolves are captive animals taken excellent care of by the good folks at TripleD. (ie. these wolves are more well fed, cleaner, healthier and happier than usual)
I'll list some of the signs I use to distinguish between dogs and wolves as someone who's not an expert but have been photographing them for a while now:
1. The most obvious is skull size and shape: wolves have larger broader skulls. This is a problem if you don't have a dog around to compare because females and younger wolves will have smaller skulls.
2. Dark straight claws (no pink color anywhere on the claws). Domestic dogs most commonly have white curved claw tips w pinkish coloration toward the toes with no skin (webbing) between the toes. As far as I know this is a 99% tell.
3. Furry ears: you can see no pink in a wolf's ears.
4. Almond shaped eyes w black eye-lining as seen in this picture.
There are many more from the shape of the hind legs to the thick double coated fur that's more subtle and requires a good view from different angles but these usually work for my purpose.
Any expert opinion is welcome since again I myself have a hard time making the distinction given the fact that they have a common grey wolf ancestor and it's conceivable that there is some cross breading out there both in the wild and in captivity that make these signs less than reliable.
IX8A6872
#111 in Explore:
www.flickr.com/explore/2016/01/17
www.facebook.com/steven.szabo.94/photos_albums
Dogs vs wolves
Larry's comment has brought to my attention an interesting point about these wolves: some of them indeed "look like" dogs since they are so playful and clean and that's because these wolves are captive animals taken excellent care of by the good folks at TripleD. (ie. these wolves are more well fed, cleaner, healthier and happier than usual)
I'll list some of the signs I use to distinguish between dogs and wolves as someone who's not an expert but have been photographing them for a while now:
1. The most obvious is skull size and shape: wolves have larger broader skulls. This is a problem if you don't have a dog around to compare because females and younger wolves will have smaller skulls.
2. Dark straight claws (no pink color anywhere on the claws). Domestic dogs most commonly have white curved claw tips w pinkish coloration toward the toes with no skin (webbing) between the toes. As far as I know this is a 99% tell.
3. Furry ears: you can see no pink in a wolf's ears.
4. Almond shaped eyes w black eye-lining as seen in this picture.
There are many more from the shape of the hind legs to the thick double coated fur that's more subtle and requires a good view from different angles but these usually work for my purpose.
Any expert opinion is welcome since again I myself have a hard time making the distinction given the fact that they have a common grey wolf ancestor and it's conceivable that there is some cross breading out there both in the wild and in captivity that make these signs less than reliable.