Why are Wolves seen as scary?

[Steven]

For years, Wolves have been demonized by mythology, fairy tales and general media. But what makes them so scary exactly, what about them makes them more threatening than their domesticated descendants? (And please don't just point out their teeth and claws, lots of animals have teeth and claws and not all of them are considered dangerous)

[mesmir]

You are right dogs are just as dangerous as wolves. I remember a few years ago I read about a pack of wild dogs that killed and ate a woman, then when her husband arrived on the scene they did the same to him. A pack of wolves would do the same thing to humans.

[Byrn]

They are a threat because they are too much like us, and yet still wild enough to be beyond our control.

Think about it. Wolves almost never live alone. They survive and thrive due to the cooperation of a larger social group composed primarily of family - moms, dads, siblings, cousins and aunts and uncles. Everyone in the family has a position, a job to fill. If one gets sick, they can rely on their family to give them food and protect them until they heal...and even mourn them if they don't.

They are carnivores, and as such competed with early human hunter societies for wild game such as deer and elk. When humans began to domesticate herd animals like cattle and goats, and began moving into and eventually farming the wild spaces in order to provide food for them, it put us at conflict with the wolves living there. The wolves don't perceive the difference between a cow walking through a fenced field and an elk running through a meadow; to them, it's just food, some easier to catch than others.

If you look closely, most of the species humans have domesticated are those who have larger social structures similar (compatible) with our own. Wolves are perhaps the closest with their pack structure, and we managed to change enough of them through selective breeding that most dogs these days presume humans to be their 'alphas' rather than another canine. But horses, goats, sheep, cattle...all live in larger social groups with fascinating social structures, but all structures that will accept a singular individual as dominant or leader. A leader, in the end, that doesn't really have to be the same species to fulfill the role.

Basically, in the end any species that competes or 'takes' something from a human will be seen as an enemy in some shape or form. A wolf that eats your sheep is the enemy. A deer that eats your corn is an enemy, as is a gopher that digs and eats up your vegetable garden. Fairy tales and mythology are filtered through the lens of human need, and so must always be read with the understanding that humans are biased towards their own survival above anything else...

[DRB]

Watch the movie Grey. Wolves will eat you.