I recently saw a comment on a fic' that said Timberwolves are pretty much impossible. Actually, Timber-wolves aren't that far away from being biologically possible. They may have a tree bark 'exoskeleton' but that doesn't mean they're actually living trees. The reason for evolving as such may just be for camouflage, they do live in dense forest after-all. And Chitin, the material used as biological armour for some insects, is a material that is also naturally found in some fungi for the same purpose as the insects. So why not develop something similar to wood/bark for self defense? Besides, we know by the fact that Timberwolves grow to have a mouth and teeth, as well as simply being structured the way they are, that they need to physically eat other beings to survive. And seeing that they prey on animals we can determine they are likely carnivorous.

Their body resembles that of a normal wolf from our world, however it would be silly to not mention that they are almost entirely comprised of wood and bark, as their name suggests. The only parts that are not made from wood/bark are the eyebrows and some aesthetic features that dot their bodies in random places, also leaves. Their eyes also glow a nice green like the colour found in a kiwi fruit, so they're not made from wood/bark either. As mentioned before, it is likely that these are for camouflage allowing them to blend in with the thick woodland that is the Everfree, their home.

Then their body shape comes into play. They resemble real life wolves, like I said earlier. However there is one small thing that confuses me about Timberwolves: They have antlers.

Antlers are generally used by animals that usually find themselves as prey to fend off any dangers. They can also be used when competing for a group of females, like Stags do. So why would a predator need antlers? The whole 'mating' deal is probably the only likely solution to my query, but hey-ho... Their bodies are relatively streamlined and their limbs look about as springy as a 2CV, so it is obvious these are used for running fast as well as having more control over their movements while running. This agility is helped along by their tails which will help to balance them during quick direction changes and other movements that would require a weight shift. Speaking of weight...

Quite a lot of their weight appears to be distributed towards their front, their barrel thickening at the chest with their neck and head sitting on top of that as well. It is possible that their wide chests are due to a lot of organs being held there, similar to dogs and wolves in real life.This is well catered for as their front legs are considerably thicker than their hinds, holding the weight. This front heavy balance could be so that when they pounce on prey, their front weight makes a blow with their long claws even more viscous. This combined with their large claws being made form bark and wood which are constantly in the soil, makes for an efficient killing technique.

In trees, the fluids are carried around by two different types of piping within the trunk. Xylem, and Phloem. (If I fuck this up, my Biology teacher will murder me) Phloem have valves which help control the direction of flow as to make sure the nutrients do not flow the opposite way they are supposed to. Xylem are just tubes... other than the fact that their walls are actually dead. Yes, the Xylem's walls are made from dead plant cells. Huh, ironic... Anyways, these would likely be able to be modified as Phloem being the representative of Veins (Because veins have valves to prevent back-flow) and Xylem being the representative of Arteries (Because like arteries, Xylem's walls are thicker than the Phloem's).

Next issue: Do they photosythesis(z)e?
I would think so, yes. Simply because the leaves attached to their bodies are green, thus they contain chlorophyll which absorbs sunlight and helps turn it into glucose for the plant to use as food. Except this time, the plant is a living, breathing predator that can move by will. If the Timberwolf has lungs and can also breathe, then it is likely that this process would help the Timberwolf counteract the effects of fatigue while running/sprinting. This would mean they would not have to resort to respiring anaerobically which would produce lactic acid in the muscles and cause pain. So yeah, photosynthesis(z)ing helps them a lot.

Final issue: How did they evolve?
IDK, from trees? Maybe from some sort of wolf like creature that spent a lot of it's time in trees? I have no idea how to answer this one and it stumps me. I can't figure out a way to explain it confidently. But one things for certain, trees are involved. My only theory is that they evolved much like plants, or started evolving into plants, but then some environmental change forced them to evolve movement instead of size and being deadly still. Then they became like wolves except with their tree bark armour/skin still attached to their bodies. But they never got rid of it because it was useful when blending in to their surroundings.

Thanks for reading! I might even do another one of these, and if I do it will probably be much like this one. Except with another species of course. If you liked it, please make it apparent and smack that thumbs up icon. If you didn't... then boo hoo. Go cry in a corner.

Evolve? Silly atheist, GOD IS THE ANSWER!

Kidding aside, this is where the show's lore could come in. Remember: Equestria IS magical.
I like to think a great deal of creatures like the Timberwolves are an ancient enchantment of some kind.
Hard to say where they originated unless S5 or even the comic books give us more information.
I know that the comics helped me write Changelings into my fiction by a book Twilight showed, so maybe you could go searching there?
I'm not aware of any stories involving Timberwolves in the comics, yet. Haven't got very far.

3894939

So yeah, photosynthesis(z)ing helps them a lot.

That would seem unlikely.

If you covered a cow in photosynthesizing cells, it would cover a grand total of 4% of its energy needs. Cows are not known for the massive bursts of energy required by your average meat-eating predator. Photosynthesis works for plants because their energy needs are very, very low. They don't have to move much (though most do a tiny bit). Which means they don't need energy-intensive muscles, and even more energy-intensive nerve tissues (like brains).

Timber wolves wouldn't really make great predators if they tried to chase prey using a tiny fraction of a percentage point of the energy needed for a sprint, as covered by their photosynthesizing capability.

Final issue: How did they evolve?

Well, if they did evolve (which is up in the air, since they're highly magical animals), there really is no problem with them being plant based. There's no real reason why you couldn't have plants be the motile ones, and animals be the immotile creatures. Even on earth you have plants like Venus Fly Traps and animals like sponges.

Or indeed, maybe it's just mimicry, and they aren't plants at all. They might just look like it.

*pictured above: something made of meat and not a plant at all.

3896759
This is why it would only help them for a small amount of endurance. If they stay static for long periods of time, then they might be able to use energy collected via photosynthesis as some sort of biological N(2)O. But I do see your point, it's kind of like respiring anaerobically except slightly more efficient and with no painful drawbacks.

3896844
Well, there's probably a reason that animals on Earth don't do it.

I mean, sure, you could probably park in a damp, sunny spot go into some kind of very deep coma and 'recharge' over months. But... if you're hunting, you probably don't have to. It makes more sense to hunt more, instead. Meat is a huge energy windfall. You take that energy to hunt again and store the excess (that's what fat is for).

The only situation I can see that making sense in is one of extreme resource scarcity. Or some kind of cycle of extreme waits between times of scarcity and abundance. Like there only being prey available for a few days or weeks out of every year (when the parasprites roll through?). They gorge, then go dormant. But... the Everfree seems pretty fertile. That might not have been the case in the past, though. Who knows.

3896862
Maybe if Timberwolves hibernated as well. Bears do, so why not a species of wolf?

3896876
Well, that rather depends on the food supply and local weather too.

If we're talking about photosynthesis, it would actually make more sense to hibernate in summer. There's much more sunlight, and to absorb said sunlight you have to stay exposed to the elements, and can't hide yourself in some sheltered spot.

3896953
However that would leave them vulnerable as there are things like bears (URSA's) in the summer-time Everfree, and they do roam in packs. Meaning they would pose as easy prey for anything that would come across their hiding spot. So that's out of the question. What about this:

They may be able to do what crocodiles and alligators do, and eat lots in one go before fasting for long periods of time. If they were relatively inactive during this period then photosynthesis would help prolong the time they could survive without eating. It would also mean the food they do eat would last them a lot longer.

3896962
I guess if Timberwolves were 'cold blooded' or equivalent, it would work. Most predators are already adapted to 'gorge and fast'. Including humans (and wolves!). There's a reason we can get fat so easily, our body is very geared toward 'storing' for thrifty times. But we can't last as long as your average crocodile because our basal metabolic rate is higher, since we opted for having central heating and air conditioning. Recall, a cow who just mostly slowly grazes, can only get 4% of its energy from photosynthesis. Since they're larger and better at storing their body heat, the energy needed for just keeping them cozy is actually proportionately lower than it would be for a warm-blooded timber wolf.

However, they aren't ambush predators. They're clearly chase predators (again, like wolves and humans). We've seen them in extended sprints. And we've seen them moving about at night and in very shaded forests. Both places where they would be pretty cool, which is not a good thing for a cold-blooded chase predator. They'd be slooooow.

And they're in a temperate place, so they'd basically still hibernate during the winter.

3896980
Maybe they are just trees in wolf form and we're just trying to make things more complicated than they are.

3896984
Overthinking things is fun.

Timber wolves might still indeed be more plant-like than animal-like. Or even have some distant ancestor being a tree. There is more to being a plant than having chloroplasts, after all, biologically speaking (Though that's one trait).

They probably just don't make up any real bit of their diet from sunlight. It simply doesn't provide enough energy for a large mobile animal, nevermind a large mobile carnivore.

But yus, it's more likely it's all just magic's fault.

I'm going to say they are golems, instead of biological organisms. There is a distinct possibility that they are not natural and are artificially created (you can have a lot of fun with the why) and as such they don't need to eat, or reproduce.

3894939

Actually, I can counter this very easily.

Canonically, timberwolves are nothing but twigs.

AJ kicks one and, fuckin' poof, they fall apart into a bunch of twigs.

This isn't camouflage, it's literally what they're made out of.

These are true facts, but as KaBar42 mentioned, we can see that they fall apart into lots of little twigs, and even reform into mega-ultra-timberwolf.

I have a theory, though. What if Timberwolves weren't actually wolves at all, but actually small insects like ants or bees? I specify ants and bees because they work in colonies and possibly have a hive mind according to smart people.

Due to their small size, it's not inconceivable that they might use a timberwolf shape in order to cover ground quickly, and even use the wood to keep warm during winter and night. Bugs do this a lot, and can be found in rotten logs a fair bit. Acting together, they move the individual twigs, acting as both adhesives and muscles for the timberwolf. When in need, they could even combine their structures to create mega-ultra-timberwolf, which is structurally heavier and harder to bash around, even if the forces required to move it are immense.

Gorging on meat would allow them to process large amounts of energy at once, but when no meat is available, this parasite swarm could also just eat the wooden frame of the timberwolf until a suitable prey comes around.

This explains how they can be smashed so easily: the only thing holding them together is a bunch of insects, hardly the most effective adhesive the world has seen, resulting in a fragile but efficient structure.

Of course, this is just a theory, and relies on a hive mind being capable of such coordinated action. I imagine originally they were meant to be magical, but it's fun to theorize.