Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
lead the pack on hunts, are at the forefront of most kills, and feed first—or at least on the choicest
parts—after the kill. They also bear the primary responsibility for raising the pups, aided by the subor-
dinate members of the pack.
Below the alpha pair come the others at various levels in the hierarchy of the pack. At the very bot-
tom are the omega wolves, so named from
omega,
the last letter in the Greek alphabet. Although life
is often harsh and difficult for all wolves, it's doubly so for an omega wolf. That unhappy individual is
sometimes so abused by all the other higher-ranking wolves that it's driven right out of the pack!
Wolves communicate in a wide variety of ways, of which howling is by far the best known and
most impressive, and is the one for which wolves are properly noted. It's a special sound, for it con-
tains something so wild and primitive that it evokes equally primitive responses in humans, such as hair
rising on the back of the neck.
Wolves howl for a variety of reasons. One of these is to locate one another, for members of a wolf
pack may inhabit huge territories in areas where big game is scarce and widely dispersed. Under such
conditions, pack members may become widely separated, and howling helps to reassemble the pack.
Scientists have also observed that wolves howl as a group when excited or disturbed, particularly
when they hear the howling of another pack. At such times, group howling may serve as a territorial
safeguard—a warning to the other wolves that the territory is occupied and they enter it only at their
peril. At other times, group howling seems to be a social activity accompanied by dominance displays
by various pack members. On still other occasions, this sort of communal howling simply appears to be
an enjoyable social activity, sometimes likened to a community sing.
Wolves are widely depicted as howling at the moon. However, despite the lines from Shakespeare's
Much Ado About Nothing,
“Now the hungry lion roars, / And the wolf behowls the moon,” that's pure
myth. Perhaps this old chestnut started when someone saw wolves pointing their noses skyward to howl
on a moonlight night. No matter how many reasons wolves may have for howling, the moon most em-
phatically isn't one of them!
Wolves aren't limited to howling, though; like their dog descendents, they also make a variety of
other sounds, including growling, snarling, barking, whining, and whimpering.
Though howling and other vocalizations are the most obvious means of wolf communication, they're
far from the only ones. Scent marking by urination and defecation constitutes the second important
method of territorial delineation. Urination, in particular, marks the pack's boundaries, and here the al-
pha male, and sometimes the alpha female, engage in the sort of raised-leg urination so familiar among
domestic dogs. Presumably this raised-leg urination places urine at a higher level, so that the scent will
disperse more widely.
For social communication within the pack, facial expressions, body language, and tail position all
have meanings. For instance, the alpha male and female hold their tails straight out, while subordinate
wolves have drooping tails. Dominant wolves use threat displays such as growling, baring their teeth,
and raising their hackles. A submissive wolf, on the other hand, may whine, tuck its tail between its
