11
Wolf man
observes
behavior
By KATHLEEN BAKER
Of the Emerald
To the 10 wolves in the current
studies at the University Bio
Social Research Center (BPRC),
Professor John Fentress and his
assistants are friends. Fentress’
studies are basically ob
servational work, looking closely
at different aspects of behavior
including vocalizations,
posturing and the formation of
social groups.
The initial goal of the research
was to take an animal with a
reputation like the wolf’s, work
with it and eventually become
friends with it. The extent to
which temperament is
genetically determined and its
flexibility are also major in
terests.
Fentress stresses treating the
wolves as friends and placing the
animals on an equal footing with
the workers, by not “putting
them in a psychological comer”
the staff is able to become ac
cepted as part of the social group.
Working on a one-to-one basis, it
is “quite easy to form social
ties,” says Fentress. Once the
bonds have been developed, the
wolf will interact with the
researcher as freely as with
another wolf, a useful factor in
studies of communication within
the group. The ears, tail and
stature of the wolf serve as
signals of the wolf’s feelings and
actions, although “no one un
derstands in detail,” according to
Fentress. Vocalizations include a
series of squeaks and howls.
Photo by Pamela Fitzsimmons
These wolves are part of a pack under observation at the University’s
Bio-Social Research Center.
The wolf plays a critical role in
maintaining the lifestyles of the
animals it preys upon, says
Fentress. By selecting the
animals that are unable to keep
up, they prevent overfeeding and
the spread of disease. “An ap
propriate analogy is to consider
the wolf as a farmer weeding his
garden,” says Fentress, “But
unlike humans, who take the
largest, strongest animals, the
wolf takes the smaller, less
healthy ones.”
The wolf has captured
imaginations for centuries, but
according to Fentress, the
images of the wolf in mythology
and the wolf ih reality conflict.
“They’re very docile in the wild,
they don’t attack,” he points out.
“One of the most striking dif
ferences of many compared to
the domestic dog is the wolf’s
shyness.” Studies in Toronto,
Canada and Minnesota
discovered only two or three
cases where a wolf actually at
tacked a human, in each case the
wolf was rabid.
The studies at the BPRC are
concerned with three types of
wild dogs—timber or gray
wolves, red wolves and coyotes.
The timber wolf is a highly social
animal and easy to train. The
coyote is shy and travels alone
rather than in a pack. It is
thought that the red wolf might
be the intermediate between the
timber wolf and the coyote.
The wolf, North America’s
largest predator, is also
becoming extinct. Only about 300
red wolves remain in the world
and the timber wolves number in
the low thousands.
“Working, with the wolves is
fun,” says Fentress, “they’re
harder to get answers from and
you can’t play tricks on them.”
He explained that because wolves
are sophisticated animals, they
demand more sophisticated
effort. His wolves are very in
telligent and, according to
Fentress, learn things quickly.
“They’re appealing animals and
sensitive to others, but you have
to remember that they’re not big
dogs,” he cautioned. “They’ve
got shorter tempers than dogs.”
Fentress said wolves will
tolerate less abuse than the
domestic dogs and are too
highstrung for pets. Working with
the wolves has increased my
appreciation for one bit of
nature,” Fentress says, “it’s
opened up my eyes.”
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