What is a wolf territory and what is the size of it?
A territory is the home range of adult wolves, which they mark and defend against other wolves (apart from wolves that are potential partners for starting a family). Wolves mark their territory through scent marks (scats, urine), visual marks (scats) and howling. In this way, unknown, migrating wolves as well as neighbouring packs receive the signal that the territory is taken.
Territory size is mainly dependent on prey density (number of prey animals per area unit). It has to have a size large enough that the number of prey animals is sufficient to feed the pack in the long term. If this is not the case, raising the pups is not or only partially successful. The higher the prey animal density, the smaller the territory can be. In Central Europe, territory sizes are about 100-350 km2. In areas with very low prey animal densities, like in northern Siberia and northern Canada, but partly also in Scandinavia, territory sizes of more than 1,000 km2 have been identified.