Wolf Communication
In order to ensure their survival as a species, wolves have varied and highly evolved methods of communication. Wolves communicate with each other and other species in three primary ways – through body language, vocalizations and scent. Wolf communication can be both subtle and highly obvious.
Communication through Body Language
Facial Communication
Wolves show emotion through their facial expressions in much the same way that humans do. In this way, they can express a wide variety of different emotions. The markings on some wolf species’ faces serve to emphasize their facial features, thus making facial communication even more easily detectable.
When they feel relaxed and well, wolves sometimes show a happy expression. This expression is indicated by an open mouth, with the wolf’s tongue hanging loosely and ears forward. Other emotions expressed through facial and body language includes suspicion, threat, anxiety, and submission.
When a wolf feels threatened, it will often wrinkle its nose, open its mouth to show bared teeth, pull its lips forward and hold its ears erect. This kind of expression is often accompanied by a growl or a snarl.
A wolf that is anxious and feeling threatened will close its mouth and draw its lips and ears back. In this emotional state the wolf will often vocalize with a whine.
In order to establish its dominance, an alpha wolf uses a “fixed stare,” or glare. Often, all an alpha has to do is to stare at a subordinate wolf and that animal will immediately cringe, turn, and slink away. The glare is also an alpha’s way of controlling subordinate pack members.
Postural Communication
Wolves also use body postures and gestures to express their feelings and intentions. The positions of a wolf’s tail and body are often indicative of how they are feeling, and will even give clues with regard to their position within the pack.
The Body Language of Dominance
A dominant posture usually involves a wolf holding its tail partly erect, walking with its head held high and eyes focused directly toward other wolves. The dominant wolf may also show raised hackles, and use its body to side-swipe or slam into subordinate members of the pack. Growling, showing bared teeth, a wrinkled forehead, and having its ears stand up straight are other indicators of dominance.
Dominant animals usually are first to eat at a kill, and will urinate standing up with a raised leg. They also tend to be the first to attack in encounters with other packs or predators. Sometimes they may “ride-up,” or place their forelegs across the shoulders of a subordinate to show that subordinate, and possibly other wolves in the pack, of their own dominance.
The Body Language of Subordination
A subordinate posture usually includes a lowered tail, a lowered body position, exposure of the throat, and the animal making small steps toward the more dominant pack members. Other subordinate body language can involve a peeling back of lips, folding the ears back and urinating while crouching, or even on themselves.
The Body Language of Play
Play is an important behavior in the lives of wolves. Wolf pups learn important skills such as hunting and communications skills through play. Hierarchy within the litter can also be determined through play, and wolves often play simply because they enjoy it. The more wolf pups play, the stronger they become, thus increasing their likelihood for health and survival.
Wolves, like other canines, signal play with the gesture known as the “play bow.” The wolf drops into a crouching position, wags its tail and puts a slight grin on its face. Even adult wolves seem to enjoy playing, and often engage in games of tag, chase and wrestling matches with their pack mates.
Communication through Vocalizations
Howling
The howl of a wolf is one of the most interesting aspects of wolf behavior and has been described as haunting and unforgettable by those who have been fortunate enough to hear it in the wild. Howling can serve a wide variety of functions. It can signal a wolf’s whereabouts to its pack, can summon pack members to a nightly hunt or adults may howl to find a lost pup. At other times, howling may be undertaken by either an individual wolf, or a group of wolves simply for the joy of it.
Pack or group howling is usually initiated by one wolf, not necessarily by the pack leader, but the animal with the most active inclination to howl at that time. As each wolf comes in, it is at a different pitch. This is possibly done on purpose, but probably only because each animal has a naturally different voice range. The wild harmony that such howling produces is rarely forgotten once it has been heard.
Other Wolf Sounds
In addition to howls, wolves can also produce whimpers, growls, barks and squeaks. Whimpering tends to serve as either a submissive or friendly greeting sound, since young wolf pups and wolves attempting to appear submissive often whimper. Wolves growl when they are attempting to threaten another wolf or are behaving aggressively.
Wolves Rarely Bark
Wolves rarely bark, but may do so as an alarm call or during play. Captive wolves that have been exposed to domestic dogs have been found to bark more often than wild wolves or captive wolves that have not been exposed to domestic dogs.
Scent plays a very important role in helping wolves communicate with each other. Wolves can locate prey, other pack members or territorial invaders through scent alone. When wolves from another pack have entered their territory, a wolf can tell through its sense of smell if the invading animals were male or female, and how recently they visited.
Wolves also have several specialized glands through which they can emit specific and very individual scents. One of these glands is located around the anus, another is on their backs about three inches in the front of the base of its tail, and there are some glands on a wolf’s paws as well. The scents from these glands are as individual as are our fingerprints, and are used by wolves as their personal identification. These scents, in addition to urine and feces, are used as to mark pack boundaries and trails, establish the position of the site of a kill and otherwise communicate within the pack.
More on Scent Markings
Urination Marking
As a sign of dominance, alpha males will primarily urinate with a raised leg. Females, subordinate males and lone wolves use the squat-position to urinate. Female wolves mark scent less than males do.
The alpha wolf will direct urine at stumps, rocks, or trees. This is used as a sign asserting the presence of the pack to itself and to communicate their presence to other wolves. Wolves from rival packs may mark over the existing scent mark to obscure its odor. The marks may also be used as boundaries or as posts indicating a direction to other wolves that may be coming after.
Defecation Marking
Defecation may stimulate the anal gland to release hormonal secretions. Wolves will sometimes leave scat at regular intervals on paths and hunting routes to act as visual markers to other wolves.
Scratching and pawing
Wolves have been known to paw or scratch the ground or trees. This action may release odors from glands in the paws, or the scratching may act as a visual marker to pack members and other wolves.
Sense of smell
The sense of smell in the wolf is highly developed, as would be expected in an animal possessing numerous scent glands. The distance at which any scent can be detected is governed by atmospheric conditions, but even under the most favorable conditions, 1.75 miles denotes a particularly keen sense of smell. The wolves usually travel until they encounter the scent of some prey species ahead of them. They then move directly toward their prey in an effort to capture it.
|
