Howling

Wolves are very rarely seen in the wild since they are typically very shy towards people, but those who live where wolves are common may sometimes be able to hear them howl. The howl is one important and well-known method wolves use to communicate with each other.

There are many misconceptions regarding the reasons wolves howl. Contrary to popular belief, wolves do not howl for the sake of howling at the moon, and despite the traditional imagery, wolves do not always sit when they howl - they often remain standing. Also, wolves do not howl only at night. They will howl during the daytime, evening or early morning. They often howl together in a group, and one wolf in the pack will usually start the howling session by pointing its nose towards the sky and howling. The other members of the pack will soon join in excitedly. Under ideal conditions, wolf howls can be heard from as far away as 10 miles (16 km).

While howling, wolves often alter their voices considerably. As a result people are often "fooled" into believing that there are more wolves present than there really are when they hear wolves howling. People have often guessed, based on listening its howls, that a pack of wolves contained up to 20 individuals, when there were only 3 or 4. Some people have claimed that wolves do that deliberately, in order to fool neighbouring packs into believing that there are more animals present than there really are. However, many naturalists and wolf biologists do not accept that idea.

Wolves seem to howl for many reasons. They often howl before they go on a hunt, possibly to rally the pack together, and they often begin to howl after a successful hunt. That suggests that howling serves to assemble a pack together, as wolves often become separated from each other during a hunt. They do not, however, howl while they are hunting, as that would alert potential prey items to the wolves' presence, giving them more time to escape. In addition, a wolf may howl alone if it is having troubles locating its pack, as pack members seem to recognize each other's voices, since individual wolves often have their own characteristic way of howling. Wolves will also howl in apparent grief after the death of their mates, and lonely wolf pups often howl in distress. And, as R. D. Lawrence has written in his book, Trail of the Wolf, "somewhat like humans, they [wolves] enjoy a singsong."

Wolf packs may also howl to communicate with other packs, as two different wolf packs will sometimes answer each other's howls. Wolves will also often answer the calls of humans mimicking wolf howls. L. D. Mech (1970) notes that wolves often remain silent for 20-30 minutes after a howling session. He suggests that such a silent period would allow each pack to listen for other wolf packs. If different packs repeated their howling right away, it would be difficult for any one pack to determine how many other packs were in the area.

Wolves howl less frequently during May and June than they do during the rest of the year, likely because that is the time that packs are most likely to have young pups present. It is possible that wolf packs who have young pups present often keep silent so they do not attract attention to their whereabouts, since pups are vulnerable to predators like bears and cougars.