Gray Wolf
Canis lupo

It is the biggest of the Canis genus and the body size varies considerably depending on geographical area. This wolf can weigh as much as 60 kg.
It has a lean body, with a long muzzle, triangular-shaped ears which are not very long, a relatively short neck, a short bristly tail and long slender legs.
The colour of the coat is generally mimetic and varies from tawny to grey. It has light-brown slanting eyes positioned at the front of the face and set rather far apart.
A special characteristic of the species is the presence of particularly developed carnassial teeth used for shearing flesh and bone.
The wolf in Italy generally weighs between 24 and 40 kg and measures between 100 and 140 cm in length from muzzle to tail.
At the present time, the scant availability of prey and increasingly diminishing natural habitats, particularly those with long stretches of plant cover which enable the wolf to hide and escape from human hunters, have considerably reduced the places inhabited by wolves.
The wolf is a carnivore specialised in the predation of large wild herbivores but can also feed on smaller animals, fruits, carcasses, domestic animals and rubbish generated by humans.