Decision making in plant selection during the faecal-marking behaviour of wild wolves
The function of wolf, Canis lupus, faeces in chemical communication and the selection of raised and conspicuous substrates to increase their effectiveness as visual scent marks are well documented. Therefore, I hypothesized that faecal marks are not placed randomly on plants, and that wolves will select specific plants according to characteristics that enhance faeces as […]
Activity Patterns of Gray Wolves Housed in Small Vs. Large Enclosures
Free-ranging gray wolves (Canis lupus) generally inhabit large home ranges, yet they are housed in a variety of restricted spaces when in captivity. There is continual debate as to whether space restrictions alter a wolf’s behavior. The purpose of these studies was to remotely measure and then compare the amount and frequency of activity of […]
Dominance, aggression, and glucocorticoid levels in social carnivores
In social animals, reproductive success is often related to social dominance. In cooperatively breeding birds and mammals, reproductive rates are usually lower for social subordinates than for dominants, and it is common for reproduction in subordinates to be completely suppressed. Early research with captive animals showed that losing fights can increase glucocorticoid (GC) secretion, a […]
Activity patterns of predator and prey: a simultaneous study of GPS-collared wolves and moose
We studied the simultaneous activity patterns of a breeding wolf, Canis lupus, pair and five adult moose, Alces alces, cows from April to November 2004 in a wolf territory in southeastern Norway. All study animals were GPS collared, and we used a total of 8297 fixes to analyse their temporal activity patterns. We examined the […]
Ontogeny and phylogeny: both are essential to human-sensitive behaviour in the genus Canis
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A Proposed Ethogram of Large-Carnivore Predatory Behavior, Exemplified by the Wolf
Although predatory behavior is traditionally described by a basic ethogram composed of 3 phases (search, pursue, and capture), behavioral studies of large terrestrial carnivores generally use the concept of a “hunt” to classify and measure foraging. This approach is problematic because there is no consensus on what behaviors constitute a hunt. We therefore examined how […]
Paternal care in canids
Paternal care has never been reported as absent in any canid species, and some form of care has been seen in 18 ofthe 36 species in the family. Food provisioning, active defense of the young, and protecting young by remaining at the den as the female forages appear to be the commonest forms of male […]
Cross-fostering in gray wolves (Canis lupus lupus)
Cross-fostering in canids, with captive-bred pups introduced into endangered wild populations, might aid conservation efforts by increasing genetic diversity and lowering the risk of inbreeding depression. The gray wolf (Canis lupus lupus) population in Scandinavia suffers from severe inbreeding due to a narrow genetic base and geographical isolation. This study aimed at evaluating the method […]