Howling it up

The wolf's heightened sense of hearing also helps it to communicate with other wolves. This communication takes the form of howling. Wolf howls range in duration from half a second to eleven seconds. A group howl generally begins as barks from a few pack members, gradually changes to a low howl, then escalates into a loud pack- wide howl. All members of the wolf pack participate in howling behaviors, even the pups as young as a couple of months. Wolves howl most frequently in the evening and early morning during the winter or when breeding.

Wolves howl for a variety of reasons. One is to signal their pack location to other packs that may be passing within their territory, or to signal their hunting position to wolves within their pack. In order to sound more intimidating to possible intruders, each wolf in the pack howls at a different tone. This gives the impression that the wolf pack is large even if it is relatively small. In addition to howling to protect their territory, wolves often howl after sleeping for long periods of time, and they howl to "work up the group into enthusiasm for the next hunt."

Just as their are a variety of reasons to howl, there are different types of howls. Many researchers have noted that just as humans employ various inflections of voice to communicate through language, wolves howl for notably different lengths of time, and at different pitches, to communicate different messages. Wolves may employ a happy social howl, the mourning howl, the wild deep hunting howl, or the call howl, depending on the circumstances.