An Interspecific Cultural Comparison of Canis lupus and Homo sapiens

This semester I took a capstone class to finish up my college career. I got to pick my own topic as long as it had something to do with Biological Anthropology. I choose to write about the similarities and differences between wolves and humans. It was a ten page paper and so I am not going to post it all here but I found it really interesting and almost wished that I had had more time to work through it all and add more details and sources and such. Here are two paragraphs that kind of sum up much of what I wrote.
"Wolves and humans have many commonalities, the crux of which can be narrowed down to our adaptable nature and diet. However, some of these similarities, especially diet, are difficult to see in our technologically advanced world, they are more obvious in examples from the human past when most humans were hunters and gatherers. Until more recently when humans began to populate almost every corner of the world, wolves had one of the most extensive ranges of any mammal (Paquet and Carbyn 2003). Both species have complex social hierarchies, and live in family groups. As predators we both prey on large and small animals as well as feeding on plants. Hunting can be done in packs or individually and both species are territorial. However, the biggest difference between us is that because of extra-somatic adaptations, such as clothing, and weapons, humans are even more adaptable than wolves. . . "
"Genetic disparity between species causes variation in behavior. A few of the most blatant examples of these differences between humans and wolves are found when contrasting reproduction and greater human adaptability. Wolves have larger litters than humans and are only in heat once a year. Plus, their cubs are fully mature in two years and quite capable for some time before that. Compared to humans’ slow maturation, single births and year round reproductive receptivity wolves are very distinct. These differences require diverse adaptive behaviors. Both species are quite adaptable, but because of humans ability to create culture, particularly material culture we adapt more readily to a larger variety of environments."