Latin: Canis lupus (Linné 1758)
Svenska: Varg
Deutsch: Wolf
The wild dog
All dogs descended from wolves. 15,000 years ago, man began to tame wild wolves. They then began to choose which animals would breed with which. Eventually, this process gave us all the breeds of dog we have today.
In Scandinavia, wolves mostly eat moose, but they may also eat roe deer, badgers, and beavers.
Wolves crop up regularly but unevenly within Uppland. In recent years, the municipality of Heby has been the best area for wolves. Single wolves have also cropped up farther south: a wolf was photographed on September 28th, 2006, near the Söderby golf course in Uppsala; another was observed in the vicinity of Östhammar between December 10th and 18th, 2006. In the Florarna nature reserve, another wolf was observed on December 19th, 2006.
Adult wolves stay in their home territory all winter. Wolf pups might wander up to a thousand kilometres in one winter!
Photo: FotoFinnaren
Latest sightings/traces of grey wolf in Uppland
SKANDULV: The Scandinavian Wolf Project
The big 5 on grey wolf
Wikipedia article on the grey wolf