Shaun Ellis has spent years of his life immersing himself in wolf society. By living and behaving like wolves, he has learned their intricate language and how to communicate with them through various forms of howling. In "A Man Among Wolves," Shaun is shown teaching a wolf pup to howl by holding it up and howling in its ear. Its ears prick slightly and, after a few seconds, it too begins to howl, throwing its tiny head back.

Below are some of Shaun’s observations on this aspect of the wolf’s complex communication system, as noted in his book “Spirit of the Wolf:”

The howl is a long-range method of communicating with pack members who are out of sight. It is also used with rival wolves as a way of avoiding conflict and can be heard several miles away — up to 10 miles in favorable conditions.

Wolves often prefer to howl from an elevated position in order to project the sound farther. They can also be seen standing in a semicircle while howling to project their sound in different directions.

A wolf away from its pack will often call the pack using a rallying or locating howl.

Defensive howls are low in tone in order to be discouraging. Locating howls are higher in tone in order to be encouraging, and are drawn-out in order to urge a response to questioning. Depending upon the reply, a subsequent howl may be either high in pitch as encouragement or lower as a discouragement.

Rallying howls are intended to recall pack members to the location of the family, and will be high in tone but mournful to denote rallying or return. Rallying howls are sometimes misinterpreted as lamenting a death in the pack.

Communication through howling is taught to young wolves at an early age, and they are rewarded with food and praise.

Each wolf has a different sound depending upon its pack status.

The alpha pair’s howl is low in tone, a sign of its high status within the pack. The alphas howl for short periods, and then pause to listen for any response so that they can decide whether the pack as a whole should stop or continue.

Alpha wolves may not initiate howling, but they will assume control of the situation once vocal contact is made, with, for example, a neighboring pack, a lone wolf or a family member that has become lost while hunting. If the alpha wolves determine that the pack needs to prolong its calls, they will offer encouragement to howl by repeating a long deep howl, or, if they want to stop the pack, they repeat a series of two or three cut-off howls in quick succession.

Second in the pack to the alpha pair are the betas. The betas’ howls are moderately low in tone: not as low as the alphas but lower than the remaining pack members. They howl approximately three to four times longer than the alphas, adding strength and continuity to the pack calls.

Mid-ranking wolves create the illusion that there are more wolves in the pack than there actually are. They use a variety of sounds — yips and yaps as well as howls — to make it hard for neighboring packs to identify exactly how many wolves are in the pack.

The omega wolf is responsible for defusing tension within the pack. The omega’s howl is the most tuneful in the pack, reaching both high and low notes. By adding vocal harmony, it can help calm the pack when the pack is on the defensive.

Sources
Wolf Pack Management
“Spirit of the Wolf” by Shaun Ellis

Delve into the unique story of a maverick researcher named Shaun Ellis who raises abandoned wolf cubs and teaches them by example how to survive in the wild. In A Man Among Wolves, see how Shaun has given up everything to take a daring and unorthodox approach to understanding wolves? every move?living and behaving like them, howling, licking, and snarling like them, even eating carcass meat like them.

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