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Wolves, Sharks, and Public Relations
Wolves and sharks both have the same problem: Bad PR. For sharks, Jaws was a huge part of the problem. In the case of wolves, it’s typically cattle farmers tired of the local pack stealing a calf or two.
So, let’s unpack how dangerous they really are to humans. Let’s start with wolves.
Wolves and Humans
The grey wolf is also the dog and the dog is likely the first animal domesticated by humans.
GSDs, samoyeds, chihuahuas, Newfoundlands: They’re all wolves. Well, except not.
Dogs are not wolves despite being technically the same species. Here’s one major way in which they differ: Diet.
Dogs are more omnivorous than wolves. Why? Because they live with omnivores. They’re used to eating whatever the humans are eating. This isn’t ideal for dogs, and nowadays we tend to give our dogs a bit less meat. But dogs actually need grain to be healthy. Likely their gut biome has changed because of domestication. (I would be interested to look and see if the gut biome of dogs is closer to the gut biome of humans than that of wolves).
Wolves, though, have this peculiar mystique and danger. It might be because we see the wolf as having rejected domestication…when the truth is more likely that some wolves got turned into dogs by pure…