Wolves communicate via many media. The most common are body postures, gestures, and soft sounds, such as those described earlier when a dominant wolf meets a submissive one. The meaning of these postures may vary in context — that is, their meanings change depending on which other postures, sounds, or gestures are used by the wolf at the same time.
For example, there is an expression called an agonistic pucker. A wolf with this expression has its lips retracted, baring its canines and incisors. It may or may not be doing other things: it may have its tail up or down, its ears forward or back, it may be crouching or it may be standing up tall. Looking at the other signals the wolf is giving, an observer can get a clearer picture of what the agonistic pucker signal means. A puckering wolf which is also crouching with its tail down and its ears back are probably frightened and defensive — it is being submissive but warning that it will fight if pressed. A puckering wolf that has its tail up and its ears forward and is standing tall is probably self-confident and is trying to do something like guard food from another wolf.
Wolves also communicate by scent. Wolves mark the boundaries of their territories with their urine and feces and can smell these substances to determine just who left them there, and maybe even their age and gender. Wolves urinate on, or mark, things they regard as their property (such as food) and want to come back to later. Wolves can tell by scent whether female wolves are ready to mate. Wolves have many scent glands, including between their toes, and 1/4 of the way down the top of their tail (you can see the scent gland on the top of the tail as a dark spot part of the way down) to help spread their smell around.
An unusual behavior, scent-rolling, involves a wolf who finds something strong-smelling (often manure or a carcass) getting down and rolling in it, coating themselves. Some dogs also scent-roll. No-one is sure why wolves scent-roll, but it may be that they are bringing the smell back to the rest of their pack, which might then follow the wolf’s scent trail back to the thing that smelled interesting.
Of course, the most famous way in which wolves communicate is by sound. In addition to the whimpers, whines, growls, squeaks, squeals, shrieks, yips, barks, pants, and miscellaneous noises which merge with body postures and gestures to form wolves’ primary means of communication, the wolf is capable of producing one spectacular and familiar sound: the howl.
A wolf’s howl may be heard up to ten miles away depending on weather conditions and terrain. There are several different kinds of howl, and each has a different meaning depending on the context in which it is used. The chorus howl, where three or more wolves howl together, is used both to call the pack members together and to warn other packs of the presence of the howling wolves. The solo howl, howled by one wolf, is primarily used to attract a mate or to relocate a pack from which the lone wolf has been separated. Duet howls, by two wolves, have different meanings depending on whether the wolves are howling simultaneously or alternately, and on the histories of the two wolves.
Chorus howls may become rallies, where the howling wolves and sometimes the whole pack come together in a mob of wagging tails and sniffing noses. The wolves greet each other during a rally and act very excited. Lower-ranking wolves will often rally to higher-ranking wolves, directing their greeting behavior primarily toward the dominant animals and following them around as they howl, offering them submissive greetings and affirming their higher status. Sometimes rallies end in small arguments as the greeting ceremony brings two wolves who would rather not be near each other into close contact as they greet others in the group.
Despite the assertions of popular mythology, the wolf does not howl only during the full moon. Wolves howl during the day, at night, and any time of year, no matter what the moon is doing. Wolves howl most often at dawn and dusk when they are most active, and during late January and early February, the breeding season. Wolves do not howl to “strike terror” into the hearts of their prey. Prey can smell that wolves are around and do not need to be warned by the sound of their presence — and it does the wolves no good to warn the prey that they are hunting. Wolves hunt in silence and make use of the advantage of surprise whenever they can.
