Dire Wolf
From Sedes Draconis
Trade Tongue:
("Hesa Antira")
Neolykos deinos
- Class Mammalia
- Order Carnivora
- Superfamily Cyonoidea
- Family Cyonarctidae
- Subfamily Cyoninae
- Genus Neolykos
Dire wolves are a species of sentient cyonarctids. They are part of subfamily Cyoninae, along with domestic dogs, kel wolves (normal wolves), Yari dogs, and the lesser cyonines like foxes. Dire wolves originate in the woodlands and savanna around the northern Yari river and westward. They are the only living species of the genus Neolykos.
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Distribution
Dire wolves prefer to inhabit woodlands and savannas. They are runners and dislike dense forest or excessively rocky terrain.
Physical Characteristics
A dire wolf roughly resembles a large, dark kel wolf. The head is proportional larger, with a large braincase, but with shorter, broader jaws. Dire wolves' front paws are significantly different from those of other cyonines. The wrists can rotate, and the first toe (thumb) is elongated and opposable to the other toes (which are also slightly elongated). This allows the dire wolves some basic tool use. The first toe tucks back against the leg while running, so that a dire wolf cannot carry anything in its forepaws while moving faster than a slow walk.
Females range from 80 to 100 cm at the shoulder, and usually about 1.75 times that from nose to tail, and 45 to 65 kg. Males average 12 cm taller and 25 kg heavier.
Dire wolves vary in coat color and patterns, but less so than kel wolves. Their coats are dark, usually in colors of dark brown, charcoal, and black, mostly without the white markings common to kel wolves.
Life Cycle
Dire wolf pups are born blind (and deaf). They open their eyes at about 12 - 15 days.
Gestation Period: 160 days
Skull Fusion: 3 years
Base Infant Mortality: 1 per 3 live births
Weaning: 0.75-1.25 years, average 1 year
Physical Maturity: 5-7 years
Life Span: 45 years
See the Life Cycle Key for definitions of characteristics.
Behavior and Culture
Dire wolves have only rudimentary symbolic communication and tool use, and so exhibit relatively low cultural diversity between populations, varying more (but not entirely) by circumstance rather than culture.
A typical pack consists of 12 - 15 full grown members (including adolescents), usually plus 2 - 6 cubs less than a year and a half. The pack may include non-hunting elders, who "retire" at 30 - 35 years, but almost never more than two. Usually little more than one in five adults survive the hunt long enough to retire. Some packs also have one or two non-elders who do not hunt, because of skills or temperament, but very few packs can support more than about three non-hunting adults.
Each pack contains an alpha pair, who are the only breeders in the pack. The alpha female prevents other females from reproducing through behavioral and chemical suppression.
The Hunt
The focus of dire wolf life and culture is hunting. Dire wolves have developed basic tool use to butcher and transport kills, so that less meat is wasted or lost to scavengers.
Individuals take small prey on a regular basis, but most of the packs food come from co-ordinated hunts of large prey. Dire wolves have more complicated strategies than any other cyonarctids, with complex planning and division of labor. Labor is divided primarily by hunting experience, but also with consideration of individual talents. Hunting strategy varies by situation and culture, but there is a basic pattern that is near universal.
A hunt usually consists of eight to twelve members. The basic division of labor in the hunt is (in order of skill): tool carriers(2-4), spookers(1-3), runners(1-3), killers(1-2), and separators(2). The hunt may also be accompanied by the pack's specialist toolmaker when possible.
The youngest individuals, who have just started accompanying the hunts, are assigned to carry either suitable stones for making tools or rough-finished tools in their mouths, and to watch and learn. If there is a toolmaker who can accompany the hunt, the tools are often made at the site of the kill from carried stones. If necessary the toolmaker and/or the spookers may carry tool-stones, but it is an undesirable task, and relegated as much as possible to the youngest members. Generally two or three tools are provided for. Tool-carriers often also carry hides from previous kills to help carry the kill.
Dire wolves scavenge edged metal tools made by others, but only when they find tools that can be carried in their jaws, and can be used without much difficulty.
The next youngest set serve as the spookers, who get a herd moving. Only one spooker is needed, but two or three are preferred, and there is no maximum number.
After the herd is spooked, the two oldest and most experienced members of the hunt, the separators, move in to select a target and to separate it from the rest of the herd. It is more common than not for the alpha pair to serve as the seperators. They are generally the most experienced and powerful members of the pack, and the prestige of the role re-inforces their dominance. One or both of the seperators always direct and coordinate the hunt, even if they are not alpha.
While the separators work, they are paced by one to three runners, the next step up from the spookers. Once the prey is separated the runners join the separators to keep the prey moving until it tires. At this point the hunt has almost total control of the movement of the prey and when the hunt leader judges the prey is worn enough the hunt drives it to the killer.
There is often only one killer, but sometimes two. Many times the killer waits in a preselected location where the prey can be easily hemmed in. If there is no suitable location the killer will often pace behind the runners. Once the prey is brought to the killer, the others cut off escape while the killer takes it down. Depending on the temperament of the prey, either separating or killing may be the most dangerous task. Some individuals remain in the killer position, while younger runners pass them by to become separators, because they are less suited to the judgment and leadership of the separator role.
Once the kill is brought down, and tools are provided (whether brought pre-made or fashioned on the spot), one, two, or occasionally three teams of three dire wolves each begin to butcher the kill. In each team, one member holds the prey, another wields the cutting tool, and another peels back skin, and removes pieces as necessary.
The kill is fairly quickly butchered and the meat wrapped in its hide, and the hide of previous kills, to be taken back to the den or camp. In this way dire wolves are able to use their kills more efficiently and with less wasted or lost, and to provide more efficiently for non-hunters (including cubs and elders) than their non-tool using relatives.
This article has Design Notes: Dire Wolf/Notes
Categories: Biology | Hajasith | Peoples
