WNC Nature Center Featured Story: Gray Wolf Novah and Wayha

Asheville -- WNC Nature Center: Gray Wolf Canis lupus

Gray wolves are powerful animals designed for chasing large prey.  Their jaws are very strong with teeth built for cutting through meat and bone.  They possess excellent senses of sight, smell, and hearing.  Their sense of smell is about 100 times better than ours allowing them to detect prey from miles away.  They feed on a   variety of different prey including elk, moose, deer, rodents, and rabbits.  Gray wolves are highly social    animals and they develop strong bonds within their pack.  Members of the pack communicate with each  other using a variety of sounds, body postures, facial expressions, and sent marking.  They have long been feared and hated partly due to their occasional attacks on livestock, but mostly due to misunderstanding predatory animals.  Gray wolves have been shot, trapped, and poisoned to the extent that they are no longer found in most of their natural range. Federal and state eradication led to the almost complete extinction of gray wolves, but according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, they have made a successful recovery due to conservation efforts.
 
 
 
NOVA & WAYAH

Date of Birth: April 16, 2014

Nova (left) and Wayah (right) were born in a wildlife facility in Montana and came to the Nature Center in June of 2014. Since they have spent their whole lives under human care, they do not know how to survive on their own in the wild.

What Makes Nova & Wayah Unique? Nova and Wayah love to play in their pool each morning during the summer. They also like to play with apples provided by their keeper, much like a dog might play with a tennis ball. * Please help our animals stay healthy. Only keepers are allowed to feed and provide enrichment for our animals.