A meeting with a wolf in the wild has never boded well for man. If this smart and strong animal allows itself to appear in front of a hunter, then it is ready for battle. Therefore, not only seeing, but even hearing the howl of a wolf was considered a bad omen from ancient times. In the guttural sounds of this animal, people hear a chilling horror, generating a lot of guesses, sometimes based on mysticism. Therefore, everything related to the life of wolves is often shrouded in superstition. Meanwhile, this species of wild animals has long been studied by zoologists around the world.
Howl as a means of communication
All members of the canine family howl, squeal, growl and squeal communicate with each other and express their emotions. In wolves, the larynx is much more complex than that of any other canine, and it is capable of producing sounds of different tones. Some of these roulades are not audible to the human ear, but are perceived at the level of vibrations and can even cause panic. Many northern hunters claim that one individual, realizing that a group of people is following it, is capable of simultaneously making several different sounds, differing both in volume and in pitch, imitating the voices of a whole flock and thus often save their relatives from extermination.
Domestic and foreign biologists argue that wolves with the help of howling can transmit very complex messages to each other. For example, the Georgian researcher of the behavior of wolves, Jason Badridze, among the various howls of these animals, distinguishes certain sounds emitted by individuals as a call for a new leader in the pack. Canadian biologist and environmentalist Farley Mowat, in one of his literary works, described how wolves, along a chain, transmitted messages to each other about the movement of a herd of wild reindeer. First, one wolf listens to the sounding howls of another, and then emits a vibrating howl, at first low, and then ending in a high note. And soon, 8 kilometers away from it, other wolves at the desired point "met" the migrating herd.
Why are they howling at the moon?
When the wolf begins to howl, it lifts its muzzle up so that its vibrating, multi-tonal sounds are well carried by the wind throughout the surroundings. Hunters claim that wolves howl at dawn or dusk, but not during the day when they rest. These animals are most active at night and it is then that they flock into flocks. Domestic biologists suggest that wolves perceive the world in gray-black-yellow tones. They see perfectly in the dark, but only up to a certain age. Individuals that are more than 5 years old are more guided by hearing and scent than sight. Therefore, a clear moonlit night for these forest animals is the most favorable time for hunting. Raising their muzzles up, they summon relatives, invite a leader, or convey other information necessary for survival. A man can only see a wolf howling from afar,in the dark and, accordingly, if there is at least some kind of lighting, for example, lunar. After all, there is simply no other in the wild. That is why there are stories among people that wolves howl exclusively at the moon. In fact, they make sounds even in rainy, cloudy weather, but it is simply not possible for the human eye to see a gray beast in the forest, and even in the darkness.
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Svetlana Koroleva