(302–159 BC)
172-446: (65–63 BC, 40–36 BC, 30–1 AD) (1–129 AD, 131–260 AD) (260–265 AD) (298–363 AD) (363–482 AD, 502–523 AD) (523–580 AD) (580–588 AD) In Greco-Roman geography , Iberia ( Ancient Greek : Ἰβηρία Iberia ; Latin : Hiberia ; Parthian : wurğān ; Middle Persian : wiručān ) was an exonym for the Georgian kingdom of Kartli ( Georgian : ქართლი), known after its core province , which during Classical Antiquity and
344-530: A taxonomic synonym for the dingo . Wozencraft referred to a 1999 mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) study as one of the guides in forming his decision, and listed the 38 subspecies of C. lupus under the biological common name of "wolf", the nominate subspecies being the Eurasian wolf ( C. l. lupus ) based on the type specimen that Linnaeus studied in Sweden. Studies using paleogenomic techniques reveal that
516-476: A "bitter river" ( Oceanus ), with seven islands arranged around it so as to form a seven-pointed star. The accompanying text mentions seven outer regions beyond the encircling ocean. The descriptions of five of them have survived. In contrast to the Imago Mundi , an earlier Babylonian world map dating back to the 9th century BC depicted Babylon as being further north from the center of the world, though it
688-469: A 'Ba Jun Tu Jing' ('Map of Sichuan'), which had been made much earlier in 150. The Shui Jing ( Waterways Classic ) was written anonymously in the 3rd century during the Three Kingdoms era (attributed often to Guo Pu ), and gave a description of some 137 rivers found throughout China. In the 6th century, the book was expanded to forty times its original size by the geographers Li Daoyuan , given
860-472: A Persian vassal, an outcome confirmed by the Peace of Acilisene in 387. However, a later ruler of Kartli, Pharsman IV (406–409), preserved his country's autonomy and ceased to pay tribute to Persia. Persia prevailed, and Sassanian kings began to appoint a viceroy ( pitiaxae / bidaxae ) to keep watch on their vassal. They eventually made the office hereditary in the ruling house of Lower Kartli , thus inaugurating
1032-520: A broader snout, shorter ears, a shorter torso and a longer tail. It is slender and powerfully built, with a large, deeply descending rib cage , a sloping back, and a heavily muscled neck. The wolf's legs are moderately longer than those of other canids, which enables the animal to move swiftly, and to overcome the deep snow that covers most of its geographical range in winter, though more short-legged ecomorphs are found in some wolf populations. The ears are relatively small and triangular. The wolf's head
1204-605: A carefully structured picture of the cosmos. He corrects his sources and writes more scientifically, whereas Basil's Hexaemeron is theological in style. Karl Müller has collected and printed several anonymous works of geography from this era, including the Expositio totius mundi . In the latter 7th century, adherents of the new religion of Islam surged northward out of Arabia taking over lands in which Jews , Byzantine Christians and Persian Zoroastrians had been established for centuries. There, carefully preserved in
1376-594: A chain of islands, that joined Cyprus , Crete, Sicily and later perhaps Sardinia , Corsica and the Balearics to Africa). The oldest known world maps date back to ancient Babylon from the 9th century BC. The best known Babylonian world map, however, is the Imago Mundi of 600 BC. The map as reconstructed by Eckhard Unger shows Babylon on the Euphrates , surrounded by a circular landmass showing Assyria , Urartu and several cities, in turn surrounded by
1548-596: A clear picture of the status of geographical knowledge of the time. Pliny the Elder 's (AD 23 – 79) Natural History also has sections on geography. A century after Strabo Ptolemy (AD 90 – 168) launched a similar undertaking. By this time the Roman Empire had expanded through much of Europe, and previously unknown areas such as the British Isles had been explored. The Silk Road was also in operation, and for
1720-466: A department of the Roman government devoted to transportation, employed full-time gromatici ( surveyors ). The surveyors' job was to gather topographical information and then to determine the straightest possible route where a road might be built. Instruments and principles used included sun dials for determining direction, theodolites for measuring horizontal angles, and triangulation without which
1892-517: A distinct academic discipline. 'Geography' derives from the Greek γεωγραφία – geographia , literally "Earth-writing", that is, description or writing about the Earth. The first person to use the word geography was Eratosthenes (276–194 BC). However, there is evidence for recognizable practices of geography, such as cartography , prior to the use of the term. The known world of Ancient Egypt saw
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#17327724354032064-448: A family of eight wolves (two adults, juveniles, and yearlings), or sometimes two or three such families, with examples of exceptionally large packs consisting of up to 42 wolves being known. Cortisol levels in wolves rise significantly when a pack member dies, indicating the presence of stress. During times of prey abundance caused by calving or migration, different wolf packs may join together temporarily. Offspring typically stay in
2236-433: A few times and then retreating from a perceived danger. Aggressive or self-assertive wolves are characterized by their slow and deliberate movements, high body posture and raised hackles , while submissive ones carry their bodies low, flatten their fur, and lower their ears and tail. Scent marking involves urine, feces, and preputial and anal gland scents. This is more effective at advertising territory than howling and
2408-511: A general uprising against Persia and started a desperate war for independence that lasted for twenty years. He could not get Byzantine support and was eventually defeated, dying in battle in 502. The continuing rivalry between Byzantium and Sasanian Persia for supremacy in the Caucasus , and the next unsuccessful insurrection (523) of the Georgians under Gurgen had severe consequences for
2580-565: A geographical section, which was often an enormous compilation of changes in place-names and local administrative divisions controlled by the ruling dynasty, descriptions of mountain ranges, river systems, taxable products, etc. The ancient Chinese historian Ban Gu (32–92) most likely started the trend of the gazetteer in China, which became prominent in the Northern and Southern dynasties period and Sui dynasty . Local gazetteers would feature
2752-563: A globe. This has been debated widely as being dismissive of the extensive Native American history that predated the 16th-century invasion, in the sense that the implication of a "birth certificate" implies a blank history prior. Geography as a science experiences excitement and exerts influence during the Scientific revolution and Reformation . In the Victorian period, the oversea exploration gave it institutional identity and geography
2924-470: A late 10th-century Persian geographer, accompanied a book of geographical coordinates with instructions for making a rectangular world map, with equirectangular projection or cylindrical equidistant projection. In the early 11th century, Avicenna hypothesized on the geological causes of mountains in The Book of Healing (1027). In mathematical geography, Persian Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī , around 1025,
3096-538: A mention of India. The description of Africa as a whole are contentious, with Herodotus describing the land surrounded by a sea. Though he described the Phoenicians as having circumnavigated Africa in the 6th century BC, through much of later European history the Indian Ocean was thought to be an inland sea, the southern part of Africa wrapping around in the south to connect with the eastern part of Asia. This
3268-674: A museum specimen of a wolf from southern China collected in 1963 showed a genome that was 12–14% admixed from this unknown canid. In North America, some coyotes and wolves show varying degrees of past genetic admixture . In more recent times, some male Italian wolves originated from dog ancestry, which indicates female wolves will breed with male dogs in the wild. In the Caucasus Mountains , ten percent of dogs including livestock guardian dogs , are first generation hybrids. Although mating between golden jackals and wolves has never been observed, evidence of jackal-wolf hybridization
3440-754: A press release by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1921, the infamous Custer Wolf relied on coyotes to accompany him and warn him of danger. Though they fed from his kills, he never allowed them to approach him. Interactions have been observed in Eurasia between wolves and golden jackals, the latter's numbers being comparatively small in areas with high wolf densities. Wolves also kill red , Arctic and corsac foxes , usually in disputes over carcasses, sometimes eating them. Brown bears typically dominate wolf packs in disputes over carcasses, while wolf packs mostly prevail against bears when defending their den sites. Both species kill each other's young. Wolves eat
3612-609: A range of geographical and statistical information about the various regions of India. The composers of the Puranas divided the known world into seven continents of dwipas, Jambu Dwipa, Krauncha Dwipa, Kusha Dwipa, Plaksha Dwipa, Pushkara Dwipa, Shaka Dwipa and Shalmali Dwipa. Descriptions were provided for the climate and geography of each of the dwipas. The Vishnudharmottara Purana (compiled between 300 and 350 AD) contains six chapters on physical and human geography. The locational attributes of peoples and places, and various seasons are
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#17327724354033784-514: A region far from where bamboo was suitable to grow. The 14th-century Yuan dynasty geographer Na-xin wrote a treatise of archeological topography of all the regions north of the Yellow River, in his book He Shuo Fang Gu Ji . The Ming dynasty geographer Xu Xiake (1587–1641) traveled throughout the provinces of China (often on foot) to write his enormous geographical and topographical treatise, documenting various details of his travels, such as
3956-472: A ruler named Azo and his people came from Arian-Kartli – the initial home of the proto-Iberians, which had been under Achaemenid rule until the fall of the Persian Empire – and settled on the site where Mtskheta was to be founded. Another Georgian chronicle, Kartlis Tskhovreba (“History of Kartli”) claims Azo to be an officer of Alexander ’s, who massacred a local ruling family and conquered
4128-461: A state of affairs that would persist until the 13th century. The earliest extant maps found in archeological sites of China date to the 4th century BC and were made in the ancient State of Qin . The earliest known reference to the application of a geometric grid and mathematically graduated scale to a map was contained in the writings of the cartographer Pei Xiu (224–271). From the 1st century AD onwards, official Chinese historical texts contained
4300-523: A temperate belt suitable for human habitation. These theories clashed with the evidence of explorers, however, Hanno the Navigator had traveled as far south as Sierra Leone , and Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II of Africa is related by Herodotus and others as having commissioned a successful circumnavigation of Africa by Phoenician sailors. While they were sailing west around the Southern tip of Africa, it
4472-409: A variety of arthropod exoparasites, including fleas , ticks , lice , and mites . The most harmful to wolves, particularly pups, is the mange mite ( Sarcoptes scabiei ), though they rarely develop full-blown mange , unlike foxes. Endoparasites known to infect wolves include: protozoans and helminths ( flukes , tapeworms , roundworms and thorny-headed worms ). Most fluke species reside in
4644-558: A vassal state and acknowledged the reign over all the Caucasian area, it recognized Mirian III , the first of the Chosroid dynasty, as king of Iberia. Roman predominance proved crucial in religious matters, since King Mirian III and leading nobles converted to Christianity around 317 and declared as state religion . The event is related with the mission of a Cappadocian woman, Saint Nino , who since 303 had preached Christianity in
4816-458: A vast amount of scholarship has gone into trying to link Ptolemaic descriptions to known locations. It was the Romans who made far more extensive practical use of geography and maps. The Roman transportation system , consisting of 55,000 miles (89,000 km) of roads, could not have been designed without the use of geographical systems of measurement and triangulation . The cursus publicus ,
4988-524: A wealth of geographic information, although its cartographic aspects were not as highly professional as the maps created by professional cartographers. From the time of the 5th century BC Shu Jing forward, Chinese geographical writing provided more concrete information and less legendary element. This example can be seen in the 4th chapter of the Huainanzi (Book of the Master of Huainan), compiled under
5160-624: A wealth of geographical information. Chinese geographers such as Jia Dan (730–805) wrote accurate descriptions of places far abroad. In his work written between 785 and 805, he described the sea route going into the mouth of the Persian Gulf , and that the medieval Iranians (whom he called the people of the Luo-He-Yi country, i.e. Persia ) had erected 'ornamental pillars' in the sea that acted as lighthouse beacons for ships that might go astray. Confirming Jia's reports about lighthouses in
5332-411: A weight of 69–79 kg (152–174 lb). The wolf has very dense and fluffy winter fur, with a short undercoat and long, coarse guard hairs . Most of the undercoat and some guard hairs are shed in spring and grow back in autumn. The longest hairs occur on the back, particularly on the front quarters and neck. Especially long hairs grow on the shoulders and almost form a crest on the upper part of
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5504-614: Is a popular misconception that they thought the world was flat), and the simple T and O map became the standard depiction of the world. The trips of Venetian explorer Marco Polo throughout Mongol Empire in the 13th century, the Christian Crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries, and the Portuguese and Spanish voyages of exploration during the 15th and 16th centuries opened up new horizons and stimulated geographic writings. The Mongols also had wide-ranging knowledge of
5676-736: Is currently kept in South Korea. See also: Maps of the Yuan Dynasty During the 15th century, Henry the Navigator of Portugal supported explorations of the African coast and became a leader in the promotion of geographic studies. Among the most notable accounts of voyages and discoveries published during the 16th century were those by Giambattista Ramusio in Venice, by Richard Hakluyt in England, and by Theodore de Bry in what
5848-479: Is difficult and ambiguous, with some authors choosing to include C. mosbachensis (which first appeared around 1.4 million years ago) as an early subspecies of C. lupus. Considerable morphological diversity existed among wolves by the Late Pleistocene . Many Late Pleistocene wolf populations had more robust skulls and teeth than modern wolves, often with a shortened snout , a pronounced development of
6020-525: Is dominated by wild medium-sized hoofed mammals and domestic species. The wolf depends on wild species, and if these are not readily available, as in Asia, the wolf is more reliant on domestic species. Across Eurasia, wolves prey mostly on moose , red deer , roe deer and wild boar . In North America, important range-wide prey are elk , moose, caribou , white-tailed deer and mule deer . Prior to their extirpation from North America, wild horses were among
6192-1220: Is itself thought to be derived from the Proto-Germanic * wulfaz . The Proto-Indo-European root * wĺ̥kʷos may also be the source of the Latin word for the animal lupus (* lúkʷos ). The name "gray wolf" refers to the grayish colour of the species. Since pre-Christian times, Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons took on wulf as a prefix or suffix in their names. Examples include Wulfhere ("Wolf Army"), Cynewulf ("Royal Wolf"), Cēnwulf ("Bold Wolf"), Wulfheard ("Wolf-hard"), Earnwulf ("Eagle Wolf"), Wulfstān ("Wolf Stone") Æðelwulf ("Noble Wolf"), Wolfhroc ("Wolf-Frock"), Wolfhetan ("Wolf Hide"), Scrutolf ("Garb Wolf"), Wolfgang ("Wolf Gait") and Wolfdregil ("Wolf Runner"). Gray wolf [REDACTED] Coyote [REDACTED] African wolf [REDACTED] Ethiopian wolf [REDACTED] Golden jackal [REDACTED] Dhole [REDACTED] African wild dog [REDACTED] Side-striped jackal [REDACTED] Black-backed jackal [REDACTED] In 1758,
6364-399: Is large and heavy, with a wide forehead, strong jaws and a long, blunt muzzle. The skull is 230–280 mm (9–11 in) in length and 130–150 mm (5–6 in) in width. The teeth are heavy and large, making them better suited to crushing bone than those of other canids, though they are not as specialized as those found in hyenas . Its molars have a flat chewing surface, but not to
6536-541: Is largely survivable in wolves, but can be lethal to pups. Bacterial diseases carried by wolves include: brucellosis , Lyme disease , leptospirosis , tularemia , bovine tuberculosis , listeriosis and anthrax . Although lyme disease can debilitate individual wolves, it does not appear to significantly affect wolf populations. Leptospirosis can be contracted through contact with infected prey or urine, and can cause fever , anorexia , vomiting, anemia , hematuria , icterus , and death. Wolves are often infested with
6708-703: Is most likely used mainly to induce vomiting to rid themselves of intestinal parasites or long guard hairs. They are known to eat the berries of mountain-ash , lily of the valley , bilberries , cowberries , European black nightshade , grain crops, and the shoots of reeds. In times of scarcity, wolves will readily eat carrion . In Eurasian areas with dense human activity, many wolf populations are forced to subsist largely on livestock and garbage. As prey in North America continue to occupy suitable habitats with low human density, North American wolves eat livestock and garbage only in dire circumstances. Cannibalism
6880-562: Is not certain what that center was supposed to represent. The ancient Greeks viewed Homer as the founder of geography. His works the Iliad and the Odyssey are works of literature, but both contain a great deal of geographical information. Homer describes a circular world ringed by a single massive ocean. The works show that the Greeks by the 8th century BC had considerable knowledge of
7052-562: Is not uncommon in wolves during harsh winters, when packs often attack weak or injured wolves and may eat the bodies of dead pack members. Wolves typically dominate other canid species in areas where they both occur. In North America, incidents of wolves killing coyotes are common, particularly in winter, when coyotes feed on wolf kills. Wolves may attack coyote den sites, digging out and killing their pups, though rarely eating them. There are no records of coyotes killing wolves, though coyotes may chase wolves if they outnumber them. According to
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7224-677: Is now extirpated (locally extinct) from much of its range in Western Europe, the United States and Mexico, and completely in the British Isles and Japan. In modern times, the wolf occurs mostly in wilderness and remote areas. The wolf can be found between sea level and 3,000 m (9,800 ft). Wolves live in forests, inland wetlands , shrublands , grasslands (including Arctic tundra ), pastures , deserts, and rocky peaks on mountains. Habitat use by wolves depends on
7396-448: Is now Belgium. Following the journeys of Marco Polo , interest in geography spread throughout Europe. From around c. 1400, the writings of Ptolemy and his successors provided a systematic framework to tie together and portray geographical information. This framework was used by academics for centuries to come, the positives being the lead-up to the geographical enlightenment, however, women and indigenous writings were largely excluded from
7568-579: Is of enormous value, providing well-referenced geographical and other information about ancient Greece . The geographer Hierocles (6th century) authored the Synecdemus (prior to AD 535) in which he provides a table of administrative divisions of the Byzantine Empire and lists the cities in each. The Synecdemus and the Ethnica were the principal sources of Constantine VII 's work on
7740-458: Is often used in combination with scratch marks. Wolves increase their rate of scent marking when they encounter the marks of wolves from other packs. Lone wolves will rarely mark, but newly bonded pairs will scent mark the most. These marks are generally left every 240 m (260 yd) throughout the territory on regular travelways and junctions. Such markers can last for two to three weeks, and are typically placed near rocks, boulders, trees, or
7912-450: Is the largest wild extant member of the family Canidae , and is further distinguished from other Canis species by its less pointed ears and muzzle, as well as a shorter torso and a longer tail. The wolf is nonetheless related closely enough to smaller Canis species, such as the coyote and the golden jackal , to produce fertile hybrids with them. The wolf's fur is usually mottled white, brown, gray, and black, although subspecies in
8084-595: Is usually constructed not more than 500 m (550 yd) away from a water source. It typically faces southwards where it can be better warmed by sunlight exposure, and the snow can thaw more quickly. Resting places, play areas for the pups, and food remains are commonly found around wolf dens. The odor of urine and rotting food emanating from the denning area often attracts scavenging birds like magpies and ravens . Though they mostly avoid areas within human sight, wolves have been known to nest near homes, paved roads and railways . During pregnancy, female wolves remain in
8256-435: Is usually founded by an unrelated dispersing male and female, travelling together in search of an area devoid of other hostile packs. Wolf packs rarely adopt other wolves into their fold and typically kill them. In the rare cases where other wolves are adopted, the adoptee is almost invariably an immature animal of one to three years old, and unlikely to compete for breeding rights with the mated pair. This usually occurs between
8428-587: The Armaztsikhe , and a temple to the god Armazi , and to have created a new system of administration, subdividing the country into several counties called saeristavos . His successors controlled the mountain passes of the Caucasus , with the Daryal (also known as the Iberian Gates) being the most important of them. The period following this time of prosperity was one of incessant warfare as Iberia
8600-789: The Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire . Cosmas Indicopleustes , (6th century) also known as "Cosmas the Monk", was an Alexandrian merchant . By the records of his travels, he seems to have visited India, Sri Lanka , the Kingdom of Axum in modern Ethiopia , and Eritrea . Included in his work Christian Topography were some of the earliest world maps . Though Cosmas believed the earth to be flat, most Christian geographers of his time disagreed with him. Syrian bishop Jacob of Edessa (633–708) adapted scientific material sourced from Aristotle , Theophrastus , Ptolemy and Basil to develop
8772-680: The Early Middle Ages was a significant monarchy in the Caucasus , either as an independent state or as a dependent of larger empires, notably the Sassanid and Roman empires. Iberia, centered on present-day Eastern Georgia , was bordered by Colchis in the west, Caucasian Albania in the east and Armenia in the south. Its population, the Iberians , formed the nucleus of the Kartvelians (i.e. Georgians ). Iberia, ruled by
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#17327724354038944-601: The Eurasian lynx , which may feed on smaller prey where wolves are present and may be suppressed by large wolf populations. Wolves encounter cougars along portions of the Rocky Mountains and adjacent mountain ranges. Wolves and cougars typically avoid encountering each other by hunting at different elevations for different prey ( niche partitioning ). This is more difficult during winter. Wolves in packs usually dominate cougars and can steal their kills or even kill them, while one-to-one encounters tend to be dominated by
9116-659: The Nile as the center, and the world as based upon "the" river. Various oasis were known to the east and west, and were considered locations of various gods (e.g. Siwa , for Amon). To the South lay the Kushitic region, known as far as the 4th cataract. Punt was a region south along the shores of the Red Sea. Various Asiatic peoples were known as Retenu, Kanaan, Que, Harranu, or Khatti ( Hittites ). At various times especially in
9288-502: The Norman King Roger II , having great interest in geography, commissioned the creation of a book and map that would compile all this wealth of geographical information. Researchers were sent out and the collection of data took 15 years. Al-Idrisi , one of few Arabs who had ever been to France and England as well as Spain, Central Asia and Constantinople, was employed to create the book from this mass of data. Utilizing
9460-758: The Parthians . From the first centuries of the Christian era, the cult of Mithras and Zoroastrianism were commonly practiced in Iberia. Excavation of rich burials in Bori, Armazi, and Zguderi has produced silver drinking cups with the impression of a horse either standing at a fire-altar or with its right foreleg raised above the altar. The cult of Mithras, distinguished by its syncretic character and thus complementary to local cults within Georgian mythology , especially
9632-609: The Persian designation of the Georgians, evolving from Parthian wurğān ( 𐭅𐭓𐭊𐭍 ) and Middle Persian wiručān ( 𐭥𐭫𐭥𐭰𐭠𐭭 ), rooting out from Old Persian vrkān ( 𐎺𐎼𐎣𐎠𐎴 ) meaning "the land of the wolves ". This is also reflected in Old Armenian virk ( վիրք ), it being a source of Ancient Greek ibēríā ( Ἰβηρία ), that entered Latin as Hiberia . The transformation of vrkān into gorğān and alteration of v into g
9804-583: The Pharnavazid , Artaxiad , Arsacid and Chosroid royal dynasties , together with Colchis to its west, would form the nucleus of the unified medieval Kingdom of Georgia under the Bagrationi dynasty . In the 4th century, after the Christianization of Iberia by Saint Nino during the reign of King Mirian III , Christianity was made the state religion of the kingdom. Starting in
9976-501: The Themes or divisions of Byzantium , and are the primary sources we have today on political geography of the sixth-century East. George of Cyprus is known for his Descriptio orbis Romani (Description of the Roman world) , written in the decade 600–610. Beginning with Italy and progressing counterclockwise including Africa , Egypt and the western Middle East , George lists cities, towns, fortresses and administrative divisions of
10148-510: The incubation period for rabies is eight to 21 days, and results in the host becoming agitated, deserting its pack, and travelling up to 80 km (50 mi) a day, thus increasing the risk of infecting other wolves. Although canine distemper is lethal in dogs, it has not been recorded to kill wolves, except in Canada and Alaska. The canine parvovirus, which causes death by dehydration , electrolyte imbalance , and endotoxic shock or sepsis ,
10320-537: The rabies virus , may infect wolves. The global wild wolf population was estimated to be 300,000 in 2003 and is considered to be of Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Wolves have a long history of interactions with humans, having been despised and hunted in most pastoral communities because of their attacks on livestock, while conversely being respected in some agrarian and hunter-gatherer societies. Although
10492-610: The temporalis muscle, and robust premolars . It is proposed that these features were specialized adaptations for the processing of carcass and bone associated with the hunting and scavenging of Pleistocene megafauna . Compared with modern wolves, some Pleistocene wolves showed an increase in tooth breakage similar to that seen in the extinct dire wolf . This suggests they either often processed carcasses, or that they competed with other carnivores and needed to consume their prey quickly. The frequency and location of tooth fractures in these wolves indicates they were habitual bone crackers like
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#173277243540310664-426: The topography of the land, along with the agricultural, economic and commercial products of each region in China's southern provinces. The polymath Chinese scientist Shen Kuo (1031–1095) devoted a significant amount of his written work to geography, as well as a hypothesis of land formation ( geomorphology ) due to the evidence of marine fossils found far inland, along with bamboo fossils found underground in
10836-726: The Caucasus) due to the mythical wealth associated with them ( Tartessos and the Golden Fleece of Colchis). In earliest times , the area of Caucasian Iberia was inhabited by several related tribes stemming from the Kura-Araxes culture . According to the Cyril Toumanoff , Moschians were the early proto-Georgian tribe which played a leading role in the consolidation of Iberian tribes largely inhabiting eastern and southern Georgia. The Moschians may have moved slowly to
11008-713: The Chinese used the mythological figure of Yu the Great to describe the known earth (of the Chinese). Apart from the appearance of Yu, however, the work was devoid of magic, fantasy, Chinese folklore, or legend. Although the Chinese geographical writing in the time of Herodotus and Strabo were of lesser quality and contained less systematic approach, this would change from the 3rd century onwards, as Chinese methods of documenting geography became more complex than those found in Europe,
11180-545: The Classical/Hellenistic periods are known from Colchis as well); the court was organized on Iranian models, the elite dress was influenced by Iranian costume, the Iberian elite adopted Iranian personal names, and the official cult of Armazi (q.v.) was introduced by King Pharnavaz in the 3rd century BC (connected by the medieval Georgian chronicle to Zoroastrianism) Decisive for the future history of Iberia
11352-628: The Egyptian Sinai Peninsula showed admixture with Middle Eastern gray wolves and dogs. There is evidence of gene flow between golden jackals and Middle Eastern wolves, less so with European and Asian wolves, and least with North American wolves. This indicates the golden jackal ancestry found in North American wolves may have occurred before the divergence of the Eurasian and North American wolves. The common ancestor of
11524-399: The Eurasian wolf is a mixture of ochreous (yellow to orange) and rusty ochreous (orange/red/brown) colours with light gray. The muzzle is pale ochreous gray, and the area of the lips, cheeks, chin, and throat is white. The top of the head, forehead, under and between the eyes, and between the eyes and ears is gray with a reddish film. The neck is ochreous. Long, black tips on the hairs along
11696-496: The Georgian kingdom of Iberia (Eastern Georgia). The religion would become a strong tie between Georgia and Rome (later Byzantium ) and have a large scale impact on the state's culture and society. Iranian elements in Georgian art gradually ceased with the adoptation of Christianity in the fourth century. However, after the emperor Julian was slain during his failed campaign in Persia in 363, Rome ceded control of Iberia to Persia, and King Varaz-Bakur I (Asphagur) (363–365) became
11868-413: The Hagiorite (1009–1065) wrote about the wish of certain Georgian nobles to travel to the Iberian peninsula and visit the local Georgians of the West , as he called them. Greco-Roman geography The History of geography includes many histories of geography which have differed over time and between different cultural and political groups. In more recent developments, geography has become
12040-430: The Iberian king Amazasp III (260–265) was listed as a high dignitary of the Sasanian realm, not a vassal who had been subdued by force of arms. But the aggressive tendencies of the Sasanians were evident in their propagation of Zoroastrianism , which was probably established in Iberia between the 260s and 290s. However, in the Peace of Nisibis (298) while the Roman empire obtained control of Caucasian Iberia again as
12212-406: The Iberian king Vakhtang I dubbed Gorgasali (447–502) was marked by the relative revival of the kingdom. Formally a vassal of the Persians, he secured the northern borders by subjugating the Caucasian mountaineers, and brought the adjacent western and southern Georgian lands under his control. He established an autocephalic patriarchate at Mtskheta , and made Tbilisi his capital. In 482 he led
12384-588: The Kartli pitiaxate , which brought an extensive territory under its control. Although it remained a part of the kingdom of Kartli, its viceroys turned their domain into a center of Persian influence. Sasanian rulers put the Christianity of the Georgians to a severe test. They promoted the teachings of Zoroaster , and by the middle of the 5th century Zoroastrianism had become a second official religion in eastern Georgia alongside Christianity. The early reign of
12556-656: The Late Bronze Age Egyptians had diplomatic and trade relationships with Babylonia and Elam . The Mediterranean was called "the Great Green" and was believed to be part of a world encircling ocean. Europe was unknown although may have become part of the Egyptian world view in Phoenician times. To the west of Asia lay the realms of Keftiu , possibly Crete , and Mycenae (thought to be part of
12728-576: The Middle Ages included: Further details about some of these are given below: In the early 10th century, Abū Zayd al-Balkhī , a Persian originally from Balkh , founded the "Balkhī school" of terrestrial mapping in Baghdad . The geographers of this school also wrote extensively of the peoples, products, and customs of areas in the Muslim world, with little interest in the non-Muslim realms. Suhrāb,
12900-614: The Middle East and Africa, the map includes India, Sri Lanka and China. Cities are demarcated using hundreds of symbols. It measures 1.12 ft (0.34 m) high and 22.15 ft (6.75 m) long. The tools and principles of geography used by the Romans would be closely followed with little practical improvement for the next 700 years. A vast corpus of Indian texts embraced the study of geography. The Vedas and Puranas contain elaborate descriptions of rivers and mountains and treat
13072-460: The Middle East, India, and Central Asia since the traveler Zhang Qian (2nd century BC), later Chinese would provide more concrete and valid information on the topography and geographical aspects of foreign regions. The Tang dynasty (618–907) Chinese diplomat Wang Xuance traveled to Magadha (modern northeastern India) during the 7th century. Afterwards he wrote the book Zhang Tian-zhu Guo Tu (Illustrated Accounts of Central India), which included
13244-453: The Middle East, and Asia is estimated to be fairly recent at around 1,600 years ago. Among New World wolves, the Mexican wolf diverged around 5,400 years ago. In the distant past, there was gene flow between African wolves , golden jackals , and gray wolves. The African wolf is a descendant of a genetically admixed canid of 72% wolf and 28% Ethiopian wolf ancestry. One African wolf from
13416-704: The Persian Gulf, Arabic writers a century after Jia wrote of the same structures, writers such as al-Mas'udi and al-Muqaddasi . The later Song dynasty ambassador Xu Jing wrote his accounts of voyage and travel throughout Korea in his work of 1124, the Xuan-He Feng Shi Gao Li Tu Jing ( Illustrated Record of an Embassy to Korea in the Xuan-He Reign Period ). The geography of medieval Cambodia (the Khmer Empire )
13588-647: The Romans again marched (36 BC) on Iberia forcing King Pharnavaz II to join their campaign against Albania . While another Georgian kingdom of Colchis was administered as a Roman province, Iberia freely accepted the Roman Imperial protection. A stone inscription discovered at Mtskheta speaks of the 1st-century ruler Mihdrat I (AD 58–106) as "the friend of the Caesars" and the king "of the Roman-loving Iberians." Emperor Vespasian fortified
13760-582: The Royal Geographical Society enabling women to join as members in the 20th century. Wolf See Subspecies of Canis lupus The wolf ( Canis lupus ; pl. : wolves ), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf , is a canine native to Eurasia and North America . More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus have been recognized, including the dog and dingo , though gray wolves, as popularly understood, only comprise naturally-occurring wild subspecies. The wolf
13932-518: The Swedish botanist and zoologist Carl Linnaeus published in his Systema Naturae the binomial nomenclature . Canis is the Latin word meaning " dog ", and under this genus he listed the doglike carnivores including domestic dogs, wolves, and jackals . He classified the domestic dog as Canis familiaris , and the wolf as Canis lupus . Linnaeus considered the dog to be a separate species from
14104-442: The abundance of prey, snow conditions, livestock densities, road densities, human presence and topography . Like all land mammals that are pack hunters , the wolf feeds predominantly on ungulates that can be divided into large size 240–650 kg (530–1,430 lb) and medium size 23–130 kg (51–287 lb), and have a body mass similar to that of the combined mass of the pack members. The wolf specializes in preying on
14276-481: The age of the pack's pups. They tend to increase in size in areas with low prey populations, or when the pups reach the age of six months when they have the same nutritional needs as adults. Wolf packs travel constantly in search of prey, covering roughly 9% of their territory per day, on average 25 km/d (16 mi/d). The core of their territory is on average 35 km (14 sq mi) where they spend 50% of their time. Prey density tends to be much higher on
14448-414: The age of two years and sexually mature from the age of three years. The age of first breeding in wolves depends largely on environmental factors: when food is plentiful, or when wolf populations are heavily managed, wolves can rear pups at younger ages to better exploit abundant resources. Females are capable of producing pups every year, one litter annually being the average. Oestrus and rut begin in
14620-589: The ancient Mtskheta site of Arzami for the Iberian kings in AD 75. The next two centuries saw a continuation of Roman influence over the area, but by the reign of King Pharsman II (116–132) Iberia had regained some of its former power. Relations between the Roman Emperor Hadrian and Pharsman II were strained, though Hadrian is said to have sought to appease Pharsman. However, it was only under Hadrian's successor Antoninus Pius that relations improved to
14792-473: The arctic region may be nearly all white. Of all members of the genus Canis , the wolf is most specialized for cooperative game hunting as demonstrated by its physical adaptations to tackling large prey, its more social nature , and its highly advanced expressive behaviour , including individual or group howling . It travels in nuclear families consisting of a mated pair accompanied by their offspring. Offspring may leave to form their own packs on
14964-476: The area, until being defeated at the end of the 4th century BC by Prince Pharnavaz , at that time a local chief. The story of Alexander's invasion of Kartli, although legendary, nevertheless reflects the establishment of Georgian monarchy in the Hellenistic period and the desire of later Georgian literati to connect this event to the celebrated conqueror. Pharnavaz , victorious in a power struggle, became
15136-411: The astronomical and mathematical rules that would allow geography to be studied scientifically. His successor Anaximander is the first person known to have attempted to create a scale map of the known world and to have introduced the gnomon to Ancient Greece. Hecataeus of Miletus initiated a different form of geography, avoiding the mathematical calculations of Thales and Anaximander he learnt about
15308-437: The back form a broad stripe, with black hair tips on the shoulders, upper chest and rear of the body. The sides of the body, tail, and outer limbs are a pale dirty ochreous colour, while the inner sides of the limbs, belly, and groin are white. Apart from those wolves which are pure white or black, these tones vary little across geographical areas, although the patterns of these colours vary between individuals. In North America,
15480-434: The beginning of the 7th century, the truce between Byzantium and Persia collapsed. The Iberian prince Stephan I (c. 590 – 627), decided in 607 to join forces with Persia in order to reunite all the territories of Iberia, a goal he seems to have accomplished. But Emperor Heraclius 's offensive in 627 and 628 brought victory over the Georgians and Persians and ensured Byzantine predominance in western and eastern Georgia until
15652-630: The book's descriptions pertaining to areas of the Yellow River , the lower valleys of the Yangtze and the plain between them as well as the Shandong peninsula and to the west the most northern parts of the Wei and Han Rivers along with the southern parts of modern-day Shanxi province. In this ancient geographical treatise, which would greatly influence later Chinese geographers and cartographers,
15824-655: The brown bears they kill, while brown bears seem to eat only young wolves. Wolf interactions with American black bears are much rarer because of differences in habitat preferences. Wolves have been recorded on numerous occasions actively seeking out American black bears in their dens and killing them without eating them. Unlike brown bears, American black bears frequently lose against wolves in disputes over kills. Wolves also dominate and sometimes kill wolverines , and will chase off those that attempt to scavenge from their kills. Wolverines escape from wolves in caves or up trees. Wolves may interact and compete with felids , such as
15996-645: The cat, who likewise will kill wolves. Wolves more broadly affect cougar population dynamics and distribution by dominating territory and prey opportunities and disrupting the feline's behaviour. Wolf and Siberian tiger interactions are well-documented in the Russian Far East , where tigers significantly depress wolf numbers, sometimes to the point of localized extinction . In Israel, Palestine, Central Asia and India wolves may encounter striped hyenas , usually in disputes over carcasses. Striped hyenas feed extensively on wolf-killed carcasses in areas where
16168-665: The coat colours of wolves follow Gloger's rule , wolves in the Canadian arctic being white and those in southern Canada, the U.S., and Mexico being predominantly gray. In some areas of the Rocky Mountains of Alberta and British Columbia, the coat colour is predominantly black, some being blue-gray and some with silver and black. Differences in coat colour between sexes is absent in Eurasia; females tend to have redder tones in North America. Black-coloured wolves in North America acquired their colour from wolf-dog admixture after
16340-507: The contact between the "Old" and "New World"s producing the Columbian Exchange : a wide transfer of plants, animals, foods, human populations (including slaves ), communicable diseases and culture between the continents. These colonialist endeavours in 16th and 17th centuries revived a desire for both "accurate" geographic detail, and more solid theoretical foundations. The Geographia Generalis by Bernhardus Varenius , which
16512-721: The country. Thereafter, the king of Iberia had only nominal power, while the country was effectively ruled by the Persians. In 580, Hormizd IV (578–590) abolished the monarchy after the death of King Bacurius III of Iberia , and Iberia became a Persian province ruled by a marzpan (governor). Georgian nobles urged the Byzantine emperor Maurice to revive the kingdom of Iberia in 582, but in 591 Byzantium and Persia agreed to divide Iberia between them, with Tbilisi to be in Persian hands and Mtskheta to be under Byzantine control. At
16684-460: The coyote and the wolf admixed with a ghost population of an extinct unidentified canid. This canid was genetically close to the dhole and evolved after the divergence of the African hunting dog from the other canid species. The basal position of the coyote compared to the wolf is proposed to be due to the coyote retaining more of the mitochondrial genome of this unidentified canid. Similarly,
16856-646: The creation of perfectly straight stretches, some as long as 35 miles (56 km), would have been impossible. During the Greco-Roman era, those who performed geographical work could be divided into four categories: Around AD 400 a scroll map called the Peutinger Table was made of the known world, featuring the Roman road network. Besides the Roman Empire which at that time spanned from Britain to
17028-536: The crown given to the Armenian prince Artaxias who ascended the Iberian throne in 93 BC, establishing the Artaxiad dynasty of Iberia . This close association with Armenia and Pontus brought upon the country an invasion (65 BC) by the Roman general Pompey , who was then at war with Mithradates VI of Pontus , and Armenia; but Rome did not establish her power permanently over Iberia. Twenty-nine years later,
17200-583: The cult of the Sun, gradually came to merge with ancient Georgian beliefs. It is even thought that Mithras must have been the precursor of St. George in pagan Georgia. Step by step, Iranian beliefs and ways of life penetrated deeply the practices of the Iberian court and elite: the Armazian script and “language,” which is based on Aramaic (see Tsereteli), was adopted officially (a number of inscriptions in Aramaic of
17372-532: The discourse. The European global conquests started in the early 15th century with the first Portuguese expeditions to Africa and India, as well as the conquest of America by Spain in 1492 and continued with a series of European naval expeditions across the Atlantic and later the Pacific and Russian expeditions to Siberia until the 18th century. European overseas expansion led to the rise of colonial empires , with
17544-585: The earlier geographical works of India and the advances made by medieval Muslim geographers, particularly the work of Alberuni . In China, the earliest known geographical Chinese writing dates back to the 5th century BC, during the beginning of the Warring States period (481 BC – 221 BC). This work was the Yu Gong ('Tribute of Yu') chapter of the Shu Jing or Book of Documents , which describes
17716-603: The early 6th century AD, the kingdom's position as a Sassanian vassal state was changed into direct Persian rule. In 580, king Hormizd IV (578–590) abolished the monarchy after the death of King Bakur III , and Iberia became a Persian province ruled by a marzpan (governor). The term "Caucasian Iberia" is also used to distinguish it from the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. All exonyms are likely derived from gorğān ( گرگان ),
17888-482: The editorship of Prince Liu An in 139 BC during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 202 AD). The chapter gave general descriptions of topography in a systematic fashion, given visual aids by the use of maps (di tu) due to the efforts of Liu An and his associate Zuo Wu. In Chang Chu's Hua Yang Guo Chi ( Historical Geography of Sichuan ) of 347, not only rivers, trade routes, and various tribes were described, but it also wrote of
18060-534: The extant wolf C. lupus from the earlier C. mosbachensis (which in turn descended from C. etruscus ) is widely accepted. Among the oldest fossils of the modern grey wolf is from Ponte Galeria in Italy, dating to 406,500 ± 2,400 years ago. Remains from Cripple Creek Sump in Alaska may be considerably older, around 1 million years old, though differentiating between the remains of modern wolves and C. mosbachensis
18232-470: The extent that Pharsman is said to have even visited Rome , where Dio Cassius reports that a statue was erected in his honor and that rights to sacrifice were given. The period brought a major change to the political status of Iberia with Rome recognizing them as an ally, rather than their former status as a subject state, a political situation which remained the same, even during the Empire's hostilities with
18404-482: The fear of wolves exists in many human societies, the majority of recorded attacks on people have been attributed to animals suffering from rabies . Wolf attacks on humans are rare because wolves are relatively few, live away from people, and have developed a fear of humans because of their experiences with hunters, farmers, ranchers, and shepherds. The English "wolf" stems from the Old English wulf , which
18576-467: The first king of Iberia (c. 302 – c. 237 BC). According to the later Georgian chronicles, after driving back an invasion, he subjugated the neighboring areas, including a significant part of the western Georgian state of Colchis (locally known as Egrisi ), and seems to have secured recognition of the newly founded state by the Seleucids of Syria . Pharnavaz is also said to have built a major citadel,
18748-465: The first arrival of dogs across the Bering Strait 12,000 to 14,000 years ago. Research into the inheritance of white colour from dogs into wolves has yet to be undertaken. Wolves occur across Eurasia and North America. However, deliberate human persecution because of livestock predation and fear of attacks on humans has reduced the wolf's range to about one-third of its historic range; the wolf
18920-405: The first time knowledge of the far east began to be known. Ptolemy's Geographia opens with a theoretical discussion about the nature and techniques of geographical inquiry, and then moves to detailed descriptions of much the known world. Ptolemy lists a huge number of cities, tribes, and sites and places them in the world. It is uncertain what Ptolemy's names correspond to in the modern world, and
19092-478: The geography of Europe and Asia, based in their governance and ruling of much of this area and used this information for the undertaking of large military expeditions. The evidence for this is found in historical resources such as The Secret History of Mongols and other Persian chronicles written in 13th and 14th centuries. For example, during the rule of the Great Yuan Dynasty a world map was created and
19264-429: The geography of the eastern Mediterranean. The poems contain a large number of place names and descriptions, but for many of these it is uncertain what real location, if any, is actually being referred to. Thales of Miletus is one of the first known philosophers known to have wondered about the shape of the world. He proposed that the world was based on water, and that all things grew out of it. He also laid down many of
19436-467: The great learning center the House of Wisdom at Baghdad , today's Iraq . Early caliphs did not follow orthodoxy and so they encouraged scholarship. Under their rule, native non-Arabs served as mawali or dhimmi , and most geographers in this period were Syrian ( Byzantine ) or Persian, i.e. of either Zoroastrian or Christian background. Persians who wrote on geography or created maps during
19608-465: The greatest Ancient Greek explorer of all, Alexander the Great , who deliberately set out to learn more about the east through his military expeditions and so took a large number of geographers and writers with his army who recorded their observations as they moved east. The ancient Greeks divided the world into three continents, Europe, Asia, and Libya (Africa). The Hellespont formed the border between Europe and Asia. The border between Asia and Libya
19780-766: The heights of mountains and depths of valleys , recorded in The Chronology of the Ancient Nations . He discussed human geography and the planetary habitability of the Earth , suggesting that roughly a quarter of the Earth's surface is habitable by humans . By the early 12th century the Normans had overthrown the Arabs in Sicily . Palermo had become a crossroads for travelers and traders from many nations and
19952-834: The hind feet are 220–250 mm ( 8 + 5 ⁄ 8 – 9 + 7 ⁄ 8 in). The size and weight of the modern wolf increases proportionally with latitude in accordance with Bergmann's rule . The mean body mass of the wolf is 40 kg (88 lb), the smallest specimen recorded at 12 kg (26 lb) and the largest at 79.4 kg (175 lb). On average, European wolves weigh 38.5 kg (85 lb), North American wolves 36 kg (79 lb), and Indian and Arabian wolves 25 kg (55 lb). Females in any given wolf population typically weigh 2.3–4.5 kg (5–10 lb) less than males. Wolves weighing over 54 kg (119 lb) are uncommon, though exceptionally large individuals have been recorded in Alaska and Canada. In central Russia, exceptionally large males can reach
20124-525: The idea of a sphere to explain how the sun created differing climatic zones based on latitude. This led the Greeks to believe in a division of the world into five regions. At each of the poles was an uncharitably cold region. While extrapolating from the heat of the Sahara it was deduced that the area around the equator was unbearably hot. Between these extreme regions both the northern and southern hemispheres had
20296-529: The information inherited from the classical geographers, he created one of the most accurate maps of the world to date, the Tabula Rogeriana (1154). The map, written in Arabic, shows the Eurasian continent in its entirety and the northern part of Africa. An adherent of environmental determinism was the medieval Afro-Arab writer al-Jahiz (776–869), who explained how the environment can determine
20468-484: The interaction between humans and nature, with Marxist thought critiquing nature as a commodity within Capitalism, European thought seeing nature as either a romanticised or objective concept differing to human society, and Native American discourse, which saw nature and humans as within one category. The implied hierarchy of knowledge that perpetuated throughout these institutions has only been recently challenged, with
20640-695: The invasion of the Caucasus by the Arabs . The Arabs reached Iberia about 645 and forced its eristavi (prince), Stephanoz II (637 – c. 650), to abandon his allegiance to Byzantium and recognize the Caliph as his suzerain. Iberia thus became a tributary state and an Arab emir was installed in Tbilisi about 653. At the beginning of the 9th century, eristavi Ashot I (813–830) of the new Bagrationi dynasty, from his base in southwestern Georgia, took advantage of
20812-425: The lineage that led to dogs from other Old World wolves around 11,100–12,300 years ago. An extinct Late Pleistocene wolf may have been the ancestor of the dog, with the dog's similarity to the extant wolf being the result of genetic admixture between the two. The dingo, Basenji , Tibetan Mastiff and Chinese indigenous breeds are basal members of the domestic dog clade. The divergence time for wolves in Europe,
20984-452: The locations of small gorges, or mineral beds such as mica schists. Xu's work was largely systematic, providing accurate details of measurement, and his work (translated later by Ding Wenjiang) read more like a 20th-century field surveyor than an early 17th-century scholar. The Chinese were also concerned with documenting geographical information of foreign regions far outside of China. Although Chinese had been writing of civilizations of
21156-424: The middle of the back is 60–70 mm ( 2 + 3 ⁄ 8 – 2 + 3 ⁄ 4 in), and the guard hairs on the shoulders generally do not exceed 90 mm ( 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 in), but can reach 110–130 mm ( 4 + 3 ⁄ 8 – 5 + 1 ⁄ 8 in). A wolf's coat colour is determined by its guard hairs. Wolves usually have some hairs that are white, brown, gray and black. The coat of
21328-527: The modern spotted hyena . Genomic studies suggest modern wolves and dogs descend from a common ancestral wolf population. A 2021 study found that the Himalayan wolf and the Indian plains wolf are part of a lineage that is basal to other wolves and split from them 200,000 years ago. Other wolves appear to share most of their common ancestry much more recently, within the last 23,000 years (around
21500-593: The modern wolf and the dog are sister taxa , as modern wolves are not closely related to the population of wolves that was first domesticated . In 2019, a workshop hosted by the IUCN /Species Survival Commission's Canid Specialist Group considered the New Guinea singing dog and the dingo to be feral Canis familiaris , and therefore should not be assessed for the IUCN Red List . The phylogenetic descent of
21672-598: The monasteries and libraries, they discovered the Greek classics which included great works of geography by Egyptian Ptolemy's Almagest and Geography , along with the geographical wisdom of the Chinese and the great accomplishments of the Roman Empire . The Arabs , who spoke only Arabic , employed Christians and Jews to translate these and many other manuscripts into Arabic. The primary geographical scholarship of this era occurred in Persia , today's Iran , in
21844-400: The months of February and May. Adoptee males may mate with an available pack female and then form their own pack. In some cases, a lone wolf is adopted into a pack to replace a deceased breeder. Wolves are territorial and generally establish territories far larger than they require to survive assuring a steady supply of prey. Territory size depends largely on the amount of prey available and
22016-645: The more commonly used terms being "Abya Yala", meaning "land of vital blood". These indigenous geographical discourses were largely ignored or appropriated by the European colonialists to make way for European thought. The Eurocentric map was patterned after a modification of Ptolemy's second projection but expanded to include the Americas. The Waldseemuller Map has been called "America's birth certificate" Waldseemüller also created printed maps called globe gores, that could be cut out and glued to spheres resulting in
22188-958: The most frequently consumed prey of North American wolves. Wolves can digest their meal in a few hours and can feed several times in one day, making quick use of large quantities of meat. A well-fed wolf stores fat under the skin, around the heart, intestines, kidneys, and bone marrow, particularly during the autumn and winter. Nonetheless, wolves are not fussy eaters. Smaller-sized animals that may supplement their diet include rodents , hares , insectivores and smaller carnivores. They frequently eat waterfowl and their eggs. When such foods are insufficient, they prey on lizards , snakes , frogs , and large insects when available. Wolves in some areas may consume fish and even marine life. Wolves also consume some plant material. In Europe, they eat apples, pears, figs , melons, berries and cherries . In North America, wolves eat blueberries and raspberries . They also eat grass, which may provide some vitamins, but
22360-417: The neck. The hairs on the cheeks are elongated and form tufts. The ears are covered in short hairs and project from the fur. Short, elastic and closely adjacent hairs are present on the limbs from the elbows down to the calcaneal tendons . The winter fur is highly resistant to the cold. Wolves in northern climates can rest comfortably in open areas at −40 °C (−40 °F) by placing their muzzles between
22532-537: The new title of Shui Jing Zhu ( The Waterways Classic Commented ). In later periods of the Song dynasty (960–1279) and Ming dynasty (1368–1644), there were much more systematic and professional approaches to geographic literature. The Song dynasty poet, scholar, and government official Fan Chengda (1126–1193) wrote the geographical treatise known as the Gui Hai Yu Heng Chi . It focused primarily on
22704-554: The northeast forming settlements as they traveled. One of these was Mtskheta , the future capital of the Kingdom of Iberia. The Mtskheta tribe was later ruled by a prince locally known as mamasakhlisi (“father of the household” in Georgian). The written sources for the early periods of Iberia's history are mostly medieval Georgian chronicles, that modern scholarship interpret as a semi-legendary narrative. One such chronicle, Moktsevay Kartlisay (“ Conversion of Kartli ”) mentions that
22876-478: The number of worms and the age of the host. The wolf is a social animal . Its populations consist of packs and lone wolves, most lone wolves being temporarily alone while they disperse from packs to form their own or join another one. The wolf's basic social unit is the nuclear family consisting of a mated pair accompanied by their offspring. The average pack size in North America is eight wolves and 5.5 in Europe. The average pack across Eurasia consists of
23048-515: The old inhabitants of the Iberian peninsula , the 'Western' Iberians , has led to an idea of ethnogenetical kinship between them and the people of Caucasian Iberia (called the 'Eastern' Iberians). It has been advocated by various ancient and medieval authors, although they differed in approach to the problem of the initial place of their origin. The theory seems to have been popular in medieval Georgia . The prominent Georgian religious writer George
23220-456: The onset of sexual maturity and in response to competition for food within the pack. Wolves are also territorial , and fights over territory are among the principal causes of mortality. The wolf is mainly a carnivore and feeds on large wild hooved mammals as well as smaller animals, livestock, carrion , and garbage. Single wolves or mated pairs typically have higher success rates in hunting than do large packs. Pathogens and parasites, notably
23392-421: The origin of the Earth. They theorized that the Earth was formed by the solidification of gaseous matter and that the Earth's crust is composed of hard rocks (sila), clay (bhumih) and sand (asma). Theories were also propounded to explain earthquakes (bhukamp) and it was assumed that earth, air and water combined to cause earthquakes. The Arthashastra , a compendium by Kautilya (also known as Chanakya ) contains
23564-451: The pack for 10–54 months before dispersing. Triggers for dispersal include the onset of sexual maturity and competition within the pack for food. The distance travelled by dispersing wolves varies widely; some stay in the vicinity of the parental group, while other individuals may travel great distances of upwards of 206 km (128 mi), 390 km (240 mi), and 670 km (420 mi) from their natal (birth) packs. A new pack
23736-459: The pack usually before and after hunts, to pass on an alarm particularly at a den site, to locate each other during a storm, while crossing unfamiliar territory, and to communicate across great distances. Wolf howls can under certain conditions be heard over areas of up to 130 km (50 sq mi). Other vocalizations include growls , barks and whines. Wolves do not bark as loudly or continuously as dogs do in confrontations, rather barking
23908-466: The pads come in contact with ice and snow. In warm climates, the fur is coarser and scarcer than in northern wolves. Female wolves tend to have smoother furred limbs than males and generally develop the smoothest overall coats as they age. Older wolves generally have more white hairs on the tip of the tail, along the nose, and on the forehead. Winter fur is retained longest by lactating females, although with some hair loss around their teats. Hair length on
24080-477: The peak and the end of the Last Glacial Maximum ), originating from Siberia or Beringia . While some sources have suggested that this was a consequence of a population bottleneck , other studies have suggested that this a result of gene flow homogenising ancestry. A 2016 genomic study suggests that Old World and New World wolves split around 12,500 years ago followed by the divergence of
24252-430: The physical characteristics of the inhabitants of a certain community. He used his early theory of evolution to explain the origins of different human skin colors , particularly black skin, which he believed to be the result of the environment. He cited a stony region of black basalt in the northern Najd as evidence for his theory. During the Early Middle Ages , geographical knowledge in Europe regressed (though it
24424-580: The principal causes of wolf mortality, one study concluding that 14–65% of wolf deaths in Minnesota and the Denali National Park and Preserve were due to other wolves. Wolves communicate using vocalizations, body postures, scent, touch, and taste. The phases of the moon have no effect on wolf vocalization, and despite popular belief, wolves do not howl at the Moon. Wolves howl to assemble
24596-410: The rear legs and covering their faces with their tail. Wolf fur provides better insulation than dog fur and does not collect ice when warm breath is condensed against it. In cold climates, the wolf can reduce the flow of blood near its skin to conserve body heat. The warmth of the foot pads is regulated independently from the rest of the body and is maintained at just above tissue-freezing point where
24768-593: The relationship between physical and human elements. According to religious scholar Diana Eck , a notable feature of geography in India is its interweaving with Hindu mythology, No matter where one goes in India, one will find a landscape in which mountains, rivers, forests, and villages are elaborately linked to the stories and gods of Indian culture. Every place in this vast country has its story; and conversely, every story of Hindu myth and legend has its place. The geographers of ancient India put forward theories regarding
24940-474: The same extent as the coyote, whose diet contains more vegetable matter. Females tend to have narrower muzzles and foreheads, thinner necks, slightly shorter legs, and less massive shoulders than males. Adult wolves measure 105–160 cm (41–63 in) in length and 80–85 cm (31–33 in) at shoulder height. The tail measures 29–50 cm (11–20 in) in length, the ears 90–110 mm ( 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 – 4 + 3 ⁄ 8 in) in height, and
25112-552: The second half of winter and lasts for two weeks. Dens are usually constructed for pups during the summer period. When building dens, females make use of natural shelters like fissures in rocks, cliffs overhanging riverbanks and holes thickly covered by vegetation. Sometimes, the den is the appropriated burrow of smaller animals such as foxes, badgers or marmots. An appropriated den is often widened and partly remade. On rare occasions, female wolves dig burrows themselves, which are usually small and short with one to three openings. The den
25284-433: The skeletons of large animals. Raised leg urination is considered to be one of the most important forms of scent communication in the wolf, making up 60–80% of all scent marks observed. Wolves are monogamous , mated pairs usually remaining together for life. Should one of the pair die, another mate is found quickly. With wolves in the wild, inbreeding does not occur where outbreeding is possible. Wolves become mature at
25456-551: The territory's periphery. Wolves tend to avoid hunting on the fringes of their range to avoid fatal confrontations with neighbouring packs. The smallest territory on record was held by a pack of six wolves in northeastern Minnesota, which occupied an estimated 33 km (13 sq mi), while the largest was held by an Alaskan pack of ten wolves encompassing 6,272 km (2,422 sq mi). Wolf packs are typically settled, and usually leave their accustomed ranges only during severe food shortages. Territorial fights are among
25628-568: The topics of these chapters. Varāhamihira 's Brihat-Samhita gave a thorough treatment of planetary movements, rainfall, clouds and the formation of water. The mathematician-astronomer Aryabhatiya gave a precise estimate of the Earth's circumference in his treatise Āryabhaṭīya . Aryabhata accurately calculated the Earth's circumference as 24,835 miles, which was only 0.2% smaller than the actual value of 24,902 miles. The Mughal chronicles Tuzuk-i-Jehangiri, Ain-i-Akbari and Dastur-ul-aml contain detailed geographical narratives. These were based on
25800-410: The traditional nine provinces of ancient China, their kinds of soil, their characteristic products and economic goods, their tributary goods, their trades and vocations, their state revenues and agricultural systems, and the various rivers and lakes listed and placed accordingly. The nine provinces at the time of this geographical work were relatively small in size compared to those of modern China with
25972-476: The two species interact. One-to-one, hyenas dominate wolves, and may prey on them, but wolf packs can drive off single or outnumbered hyenas. There is at least one case in Israel of a hyena associating and cooperating with a wolf pack. Viral diseases carried by wolves include: rabies , canine distemper , canine parvovirus , infectious canine hepatitis , papillomatosis , and canine coronavirus . In wolves,
26144-404: The vulnerable individuals of large prey, with a pack of 15 able to bring down an adult moose . The variation in diet between wolves living on different continents is based on the variety of hoofed mammals and of available smaller and domesticated prey. In North America, the wolf's diet is dominated by wild large hoofed mammals (ungulates) and medium-sized mammals. In Asia and Europe, their diet
26316-451: The weakening of the Arab rule to establish himself as hereditary prince (with the Byzantine title kouropalates ) of Iberia. A successor, Adarnase IV of Iberia , formally a vassal of Byzantium, was crowned as the “king of Iberia” in 888. His descendant Bagrat III (r. 975–1014), brought the various principalities together to form a united Georgian monarchy . The similarity of the name with
26488-541: The wolf because of its "cauda recurvata" (upturning tail) which is not found in any other canid . In the third edition of Mammal Species of the World published in 2005, the mammalogist W. Christopher Wozencraft listed under C. lupus 36 wild subspecies, and proposed two additional subspecies: familiaris (Linnaeus, 1758) and dingo (Meyer, 1793). Wozencraft included hallstromi —the New Guinea singing dog —as
26660-468: The wolf's intestines. Tapeworms are commonly found in wolves, which they get though their prey, and generally cause little harm in wolves, though this depends on the number and size of the parasites, and the sensitivity of the host. Symptoms often include constipation , toxic and allergic reactions , irritation of the intestinal mucosa , and malnutrition . Wolves can carry over 30 roundworm species, though most roundworm infections appear benign, depending on
26832-536: The works of almost all earlier geographers have been lost, many of them are partially known through quotations found in Strabo (64/63 BC – ca. AD 24). Strabo's seventeen volume work of geography is almost completely extant, and is one of the most important sources of information on classical geography. Strabo accepted the narrow band of habitation theory, and rejected the accounts of Hanno and Pytheas as fables. None of Strabo's maps survive, but his detailed descriptions give
27004-400: The world as a grand machine from the Divine. Scientific voyages and travels constructed geopolitical power from geographical knowledge, partly sponsored by Royal Society . The discourse of geographical history gave way to many new thoughts and theories, but the hegemony of the European male academia led to the exclusion of non-western theories, observations and knowledges. One such example is
27176-469: The world by gathering previous works and speaking to the sailors who came through the busy port of Miletus. From these accounts he wrote a detailed prose account of what was known of the world. A similar work, and one that mostly survives today, is Herodotus ' Histories . While primarily a work of history, the book contains a wealth of geographic descriptions covering much of the known world. Egypt, Scythia, Persia, and Asia Minor are all described, including
27348-442: Was "the science of imperialism par excellence." Imperialism is a crucial concept for the Europeans, as the institution become involved in geographical exploration and colonial project. Authority was questioned, and utility gained its importance. In the era of Enlightenment, geography generated knowledge and made it intellectually and practically possible as a university discipline. The natural theology required geography to investigate
27520-418: Was a phonetic phenomenon in the word formation of Proto-Aryan and ancient Iranian languages . All exonyms are simply phonetic variations of the same root vrk/varka ( 𐎺𐎼𐎣 ) meaning wolf . Historian Adolfo Domínguez Monedero [ es ] argues that the name Iberian was given by Ancient Greeks to two different peoples located at the extremities of their world (in the Iberian Peninsula and
27692-411: Was discovered through mitochondrial DNA analysis of jackals living in the Caucasus Mountains and in Bulgaria. In 2021, a genetic study found that the dog's similarity to the extant gray wolf was the result of substantial dog-into-wolf gene flow , with little evidence of the reverse. The wolf is the largest extant member of the family Canidae , and is further distinguished from coyotes and jackals by
27864-440: Was documented in the book Zhen-La Feng Tu Ji of 1297, written by Zhou Daguan . After the fall of the western Roman Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire , ruled from Constantinople and known as the Byzantine Empire , continued to thrive and produced several noteworthy geographers. Stephanus of Byzantium (6th century) was a grammarian at Constantinople and authored the important geographical dictionary Ethnica . This work
28036-417: Was forced to defend against numerous invasions into its territories. Some southern parts of Iberia, that were conquered from the Kingdom of Armenia , in the 2nd century BC were reunited to Armenia and the Colchian lands seceded to form separate princedoms ( sceptuchoi ). At the end of the 2nd century BC, the Pharnavazid king Pharnajom was dethroned by his own subjects, after converting to Zoroastrianism, and
28208-657: Was found that the Sun was to their right (the north). This is thought to have been a key trigger in the realization that the Earth is spherical, in the classical world. In the 4th century BC the Greek explorer Pytheas traveled through northeast Europe, and circled the British Isles. He found that the region was considerably more habitable than theory expected, but his discoveries were largely dismissed by his contemporaries because of this. Conquerors also carried out exploration, for example, Caesar's invasions of Britain and Germany , expeditions/invasions sent by Augustus to Arabia Felix and Ethiopia ( Res Gestae 26), and perhaps
28380-434: Was generally considered to be the Nile river, but some geographers, such as Herodotus objected to this. Herodotus argued that there was no difference between the people on the east and west sides of the Nile, and that the Red Sea was a better border. The relatively narrow habitable band was considered to run from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to an unknown sea somewhere east of India in the east. The southern portion of Africa
28552-433: Was in the vast region east of Asia and to the west of Europe. Crates of Mallus proposed that there were in fact four inhabitable land masses, two in each hemisphere. In Rome a large globe was created depicting this world. Posidonius set out to get a measurement, but his number actually was considerably smaller than the real one, yet it became accepted that the eastern part of Asia was not a huge distance from Europe. While
28724-485: Was not completely abandoned by Western cartographers until the circumnavigation of Africa by Vasco da Gama . Some, though, hold that the descriptions of areas such as India are mostly imaginary. Regardless, Herodotus made important observations about geography. He is the first to have noted the process by which large rivers, such as the Nile, build up deltas , and is also the first recorded as observing that winds tend to blow from colder regions to warmer ones. Pythagoras
28896-402: Was perhaps the first to propose a spherical world, arguing that the sphere was the most perfect form. This idea was embraced by Plato , and Aristotle presented empirical evidence to verify this. He noted that the Earth's shadow during a lunar eclipse is curved from any angle (near the horizon or high in the sky), and also that stars increase in height as one moves north. Eudoxus of Cnidus used
29068-424: Was the first to describe a polar equi- azimuthal equidistant projection of the celestial sphere . He was also regarded as the most skilled when it came to mapping cities and measuring the distances between them, which he did for many cities in the Middle East and western Indian subcontinent . He combined astronomical readings and mathematical equations to record degrees of latitude and longitude and to measure
29240-438: Was the foundation of the Sasanian (or Sassanid) Empire in 224 by Ardashir I . By replacing the weak Parthian realm with a strong, centralized state, it changed the political orientation of Iberia away from Rome. Iberia became a tributary of the Sasanian state during the reign of Shapur I (241–272). Relations between the two countries seem to have been friendly at first, as Iberia cooperated in Persian campaigns against Rome, and
29412-423: Was unknown, as was the northern portion of Europe and Asia, so it was believed that they were circled by a sea. These areas were generally considered uninhabitable. The size of the Earth was an important question to the Ancient Greeks. Eratosthenes calculated the Earth's circumference with great precision. Since the distance from the Atlantic to India was roughly known, this raised the important question of what
29584-453: Was used in Newton 's teaching of geography at Cambridge , and Gerardus Mercator 's world map are prime examples of the new breed of scientific geography. The Waldseemüller map Universalis Cosmographia , created by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller in April 1507, is the first map of the Americas in which the name "America" is mentioned. Before this, the Native Americans referred to their land depending on their location, with one of
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