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Wolf
Behaviour
One of the most interesting aspects of wolf
behaviour is howling. Howling may be a wolf’s message to pack members of its
whereabouts. A howl may summon pack members to a nightly hunt or adults may howl
to find a lost pup. It may also be that wolves simply enjoy howling, alone or in
groups. People who have observed group howls attest to the wolves’ obvious
pleasure in the occasion and to the marvellous sounds of the wolf voices in
harmony.
 Pack or group howling is not a
haphazard affair. It is initiated by one wolf, not necessarily 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, possibly by design, but probably only
because each has a different voice range. This produces the wild harmony which
once heard is never forgotten (Rutter and Pimlott 1968). Another well-known characteristic of wolves is their tendency
to form packs, which may contain from two to sixteen members, although four to
seven is more common. Occasionally large groups of up to 30 - 40 wolves have
been seen. Together the wolf pack will travel, hunt, breed, raise pups, and in
most cases maintain a certain area as their home territory. Pack members are
generally close relatives - usually one set of parents, their pups and possibly
one or two aunts or uncles. The social structure of a pack is complex and
tightly knit, with each member knowing its own rank or position.
Territories are marked out by scent posts such as rocks, stumps, logs, ice
chunks or any conspicuous object that can be marked by urine. Other packs or
lone wolves coming into contact with a scent post are thus alerted and may avoid
the area, although there is probably some overlap among territories.
Throughout the winter, wolf packs are on the move, traveling many kilometres,
feeding where they find prey and resting when they are tired, or when extreme
temperatures and storms cause them to seek refuge. Winter travel routes include
game trails, ridges, seismic lines and frozen waterways. In deep fluffy snow,
wolves find traveling difficult and any easier route, including roads or
snowmobile trails are preferred.
The size of winter range for timber wolves within the treeline varies
considerable from area to area, and is largely dependent on prey density. In
areas where prey is scarce, a pack would have to range far to locate animals,
and fewer packs would be able to thrive there. In Alaska winter range has been
estimated from 100 km2 for a pair of wolves, to 12,000 km2
for a pack of ten. On a per wolf basis, this varies from 50 km2 to
120 km2.
Tundra wolves are associated with migratory caribou and have a less developed
territory than wolves that depend on non-migratory prey. This is because caribou
migrate over long distances and there would be no advantage to protecting an
area that may not have any caribou during part of the year. In the central
Northwest Territories, wolf winter range may be defined by the distribution of
caribou. In early spring when caribou group together to begin their northward
migration, the wolf density in those areas may be as high as one wolf per 10 km2. |
