Neal Sharma

Cuppia
Bio H 6th
18 November 2013
Wolf Biology
Wolves can be are best friends or are worst enemies. They are the first
species to be domesticated by humans. Wolves can be found in almost all
corners of the world. They are mainly known for their fierceness. A Canis lupus,
wolves scientific name, is rarely seen in the wild but heard very often. Wolves
use howling to communicate with one another. There are many misconceptions
for the reasons wolves howl. Wolves can howl any time during the day, not only
at night. If a wolf howls it does not mean there is going to be a full moon. The
relationship quality of wolves depends on how high up a certain wolf is in a pack.
The cortisol level of animals is used to test the levels of stress they have at that
particular time. In a new study they have found that wolf howling is related to
relationship quality.
The purpose of this experiment was to test and see if wolf howling is
caused by relationship quality and not emotional stress. Their objective was to
see how a wolf reacts when taken out of their pack. They were trying to get rid of
all the myths about why wolves howl by creating this experiment. They tested if
wolves had the ability to change the sound of their howls in certain situations.

They also tested the wolfs cortisol levels to see if they were stressed when
separated from the pack. They decided to do this experiment when they heard
reports of wolves howling when they were taken out of their pack in the Wolf
Science Center. At the Wolf Science Center human handlers would take wolves
out for a walk one by one and the rest of their pack would howl until they got
back.
The control group of this experiment was the wolves that were taken on a
regular walk and then brought back to their pack. The controls were the amount
of time for each walk, the time before the saliva sample, the type of wolf, the
pack it was taken from, and the facility they were taken from. The dependent
variable was the number of howls each wolf had after being separated from the
pack. The independent variable was the saliva tested 40 minutes after the wolfs
walk.
Each test lasted 40 minutes. The first 20 minutes of walking were used to
record to the number of howls that occurred from the wolfs pack. After the
second 20 minutes the wolfs saliva was tested to measure their cortisol levels.
They tested some regular wolves and some more dominate wolves in the pack.
In 26 out of 27 experimental trials the wolves howled. That is 93% of the time.
The cortisol levels were higher for the wolves taken away from the pack, for a
walk, than for the wolves still in their pack. They also noticed that more howling
occurred when the leader or more dominate wolf was removed from the pack.
The social status of the wolf determined how many time the rest of their pack
howled.

This experiment shows that wolf howling is related to relationship quality

and not emotional stress. Wolves are able to control their howls. They are most
likely howling when one of their pack members has been separated form the rest
of the pack. The more dominance a wolf has in a pack, the more times their pack
will howl. This data can be used to determine when a wolf is missing from a pack.
It can also be used to conduct other experiments. Whenever a wolf is howling it
is not because there is a full moon, it is most likely about their relationship
quality.
Citation:
Mazzini F., Townsend S., Virnyi Z., Range F. (2013). Wolf Howling Is Mediated
by Relationship Quality Rather Than Underlying Emotional Stress. Current
Biology, DOI.