-A social animal, the Gray Wolf lives in packs of 2 to 15, usually 4 to 7
- Alpha male-dominant over whole pack
Beta-second in command
Alpha female-dominant over lower-ranking females
-Dominance behaviors are open mouth and bared teeth, hair raised along the back, and ears erect and pointed forward.
-If food is adequate, a pack may use the same range for many generations
-pack works together on a hunt
-When an animal runs away, the wolf’s instinct is to dash after it, but it is soon apt to give up such a chase unless the pursued creature stops and starts intermittently
-not all wolves are capable of barking
-howling used to keep packs together
-different howls for different situations:
-lonesome
-location/assembly
-“lonesome howl”—a shortened call that rises in pitch and then dies away plaintively
-“location”-deep, even, punctuated by barks
-A wolf seldom calls when actually chasing prey; rather, it stops to vocalize in order to maintain contact and sometimes calls to signal arrival at an ambush point toward which other pack members will then attempt to drive the quarry.
-does not use a shelter/den
-mates for life
-All members of the pack help to care for the young
Luna Kanamari Community Member |
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