Wolf Talk

[SunKat]

Wolves express themselves in many ways. There is the howl-bark, which is usually a distress call. It starts out as a high pitched bark and quickly turns into a short howl. It's a "Wolf Alarm", a warning to pack mates of possible danger. There are the yips, yaps, squeals, and chirps of play. These sounds are also used to show submissiveness to higher ranking pack members. The Wolf Growl is distinctive. It is a very bass sound, which emits from deep inside the animal. It is a warning that should be taken seriously. The Wolf Howl is harmonic. The howl usually shifts pitches to achieve a discord. It is believed that this is done to confuse unwelcome visitors as to the actual size of the pack. It appears that Wolves love a good Howl. I personally have seen wolves stop what they were doing, no matter how involved they were to join in a hearty chorus howl. I have seen them Howl upon awakening, to attract a mate, to let pack members know where they are at the moment and just to send a greeting. While I was working with wolves, I heard them react to sirens with a howl. In the wild, Wolves howl to scare prey, hoping it will come out of hiding. They also Howl when they are distressed by something but not enough to flee. Wolves seem to Howl frequently before a hunt. You can liken this to a human "Sports Rally". Under ideal weather conditions, a Howl can be heard for up to ten miles away from the source. 

Listen to Wolf Howl Animal Preserve's Wolves, Watachee, Waya and Ohoyo participating in an evening chorus howl, one of their first!

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Here is a Midnight howl recorded in January of 2011 during the peak of their breeding season.  The deeper howls are from Wa-ta-chee and Waya.  The higher pitched sounds are from Woha and Niko Akni.  Nita can be heard in a chatter, too.

Below is a link to an mp.3 of our Wolves howling, recorded on December 27, 2006.  The howl is in response to a coyote that is approximately 2 miles away from the Preserve.  If you turn up your speakers, you will hear the coyote in the distance soon joined by a pack of coyotes.  Our Wolves howls become frenzied and excited.  The Wolf starting this howl is Waya.  Breeding season has started, our female, Ohoyo is in proestrus and we've seen wild coyotes coming into the Preserve during daylight hours.  We suspect that Waya is communicating with a young female that we've spotted at the edge of the woods.  This sound file runs approximately 6 minutes.

Looking for Love, howl

Here is a sample of one of our Wolves, Ohoyo in a distress howl, called a "bark-howl".  She wasn't happy with the presence of a female visitor at the Preserve.  You will hear her speaking to Ohoyo as she distress howls.  Here is just an audio sample of the distress howl that will load much quicker.

http://www.everythingwolf.com/

[Tuffy]

Its amazing unless you live in the desolate areas of nature people don't realize everyanimal has a communication system that they should know and understand... thank you S/K