WATCH: Camperdown wolf cubs come out to play
Camperdown Wildlife Centre newest arrivals have finally started coming out to play.
Camperdown Wildlife Centre newest arrivals have finally started coming out to play.
Visitors now have the chance to see the cubs who have now started to venture out from their den with their parents and can be seen on a regular basis playing in their enclosure.
The wolf cubs were a surprise arrival at the centre 8 weeks ago, just months after their parents arrived at the centre.
The adult wolves were known to have settled in well to the new surroundings in early March although even staff have been surprised that they began successfully breeding so quickly.
It was hoped they would contribute to the European breeding programme although the earliest this was expected to be was next year. The mother, Aurora, was born at the Highland Wildlife Park in 2013 and the male, Loki, born in 2012 in the Netherlands.
European wolf fact file
• The female was born in June 2013 at the Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland and the male was born in May 2012 in the Netherlands.
• The female is called Aurora and the male has been named Loki.
• European wolves are native to Europe and the central and southern steppe zones of Russia
• European wolves can be found in many areas where their food can be easily hunted, from high mountain slopes and forests to lower temperate grasslands.
• They are the largest of the grey wolves with their fur being relatively short and coarse. The howl of these wolves is much more melodious and quieter than that of their North American grey wolf cousins. Many European wolf populations are forced to live largely on farm livestock and rubbish in areas with dense human towns, although wild animals such as moose, red deer, roe deer and wild boar are still their most important food sources in the more mountainous regions of Eastern Europe. Other prey items hunted by these wolves include reindeer, mountain sheep, bison, ibex, chamois and wild goats.
• There are many tales of when the last wild wolf was killed in Scotland, but official records indicate that the last wolf was hunted in Perthshire in 1680.
• In ancient Scotland, wolves were considered such a threat to travellers that special houses called spittals were erected on several remote highways for protection.