Wolves are highly social, organized animals adapted to living in packs. Pack behavior confers numerous benefits to wolves, such as better care and defense of pups, the ability to secure larger and more frequent kills, and additional protection for weaker members of the group. Generally speaking, wolves seek to be part of a pack. The most common lone wolf is one who simply has not found the right fit yet.
Packs consist of leaders, subordinate adults, and pups or juveniles. In the wild, most wolf packs are made up of a breeding male and female and their offspring. The breeding wolves are the leaders simply because they are the parents of the pack, and their children follow them because that's mom and dad! In captivity, wolf packs tend to include unrelated individuals and a hierarchy is established and maintained via ritualized dominance and submission.
While some wolves stay with their birth pack for life, dispersal is common for young adult wolves. Dispersers may mingle with multiple packs and come and go from their natal pack until they either establish their own or find a group that suits them. Dispersal often occurs in cohorts, usually siblings, which allows them to maintain some of the benefits of a pack while they strike out on their own.
The prey of choice for wolves are large ungulates such as deer, elk, and moose, but these animals present a significant challenge. Most of them are larger and stronger than wolves, so packs go after the sick, injured, or elderly members of the herd to gain the upper hand. They may also select young animals or those who find themselves at a disadvantage due to terrain. When confronting a herd, wolves will force their prey to run and follow, sometimes for miles, to pick out a suitable target.
Wolves swarm their prey as a group, biting at the shoulders and flanks in an effort to bleed their quarry out. The rear and front ends of most ungulates are more dangerous due to kicking legs and antlers, though wolves may seize the hind end or nose of their prey to drag them down when there's an opening. The goal is to make their prey fall; once that happens, wolves will begin to feed whether or not the animal has perished. Wolves have a low success rate when hunting, approximately 14%.
Wolves supplement their diet with small prey such as hares, beavers, and squirrels. These animals are not sufficient to sustain a wolf long-term but are less risky to pursue, making them ideal for small packs, young wolves, or a solitary wolf. A single wolf is capable of taking down an elk via bleeding out, but doing so alone it is incredibly dangerous and requires a lot of energy. This is rarely worth the risk or effort.
Wolf packs claim and defend territories fiercely from other wolves and predators because of the benefits provided. Running intruders out of a claimed territory makes it easier to defend offspring in a central location and grants the wolves uncontested access to food and water. As a result, wolves claim territory that is large and populated enough to provide for all their needs. The size of the territory depends on the number of wolves and prey density.
Scent marking is done to highlight a pack's claim and serves as a warning to outsiders. Wolves prefer to urinate and defecate close to the edges of their claim or around their rendezvous site where the scent will carry several miles to other wolves, letting them know the area is occupied. These scent markings can last weeks. In addition to excrement, wolves may also mark by scraping the ground with their paws or rubbing their bodies against trees and rocks.
Marking behavior is intensified in winter and spring when a pack has one or more successful breeding pairs.
Wolves utilize several sounds to communicate with one another. The most well-known vocalization, the howl, is used in one of two ways: first, as a social howl to rally the pack, and second, as a defensive howl to warn rivals to keep away. Contrary to popular belief, wolves do not howl at the moon; they just happen to be most active at dusk.
Wolves bark or bark-howl as an alarm. It is most often done to warn the pack of an intruder or by a mother to warn her pups about danger.
Growling and snarling are both threatening sounds that warn other wolves to stay away or violence may follow. Deep growling during feeding is common due to food possession and quiet growling may indicate that a wolf is uneasy or unhappy, especially during ritualized dominance.
Whimpering may be used to indicate friendliness and acceptance, but may also be a sign of anxiety, worry, or frustration. More than any other vocalization, whimpering is used in conjunction with body language to convey a specific message.
Wolves rely on body language to communicate their feelings. Wolves have a wide range of motion in their ears and tails that allow them to express numerous emotions. Perked ears suggest confidence and interest; ears pulled back toward the neck may indicate suspicion or reluctance; flattened ears are a sign of fear; and ears pointed straight up or held low and to the sides are typical of aggression.
Bared teeth is almost always a warning sign and wolves may even flash their tongue over their teeth if they are being especially threatening. Wolves who pucker their lips over their teeth or wrinkle their lips back and snarl are expressing anger, while wolves who pull their lips back in a smile that shows their teeth are anxious.
Wolves raise their tails when they are feeling confident and curl their tails under their bellies when they are feeling threatened or frightened. A wagging tail suggests the wolf is playful or accepting, while a rigid tail suggests the wolf is unsure or tense. Subordinates often curl their tails and wag them when greeting a leader. When hunting, wolves typically hold their tails straight out behind them, which is a sign of focus.
Most often, wolves maintain a neutral posture with a loosely hanging tail and ears relaxed forward or to the sides.
Dominance and submission are ritualized behaviors that reinforce roles within the pack. Dominance and submission displays are rare between related individuals but commonly occur between unrelated wolves during high stress moments. These behaviors also occur between pups while they establish themselves. Despite appearances, dominance and submission rituals are seldom aggressive. Rather, they reduce social distance and promote friendly relations. Dominance and submission between wolves can be compared to a handshake between a CEO and a subordinate staff member. Overt displays are rarely required. Subtle eye contact from a superior, followed by the aversion of eye contact by a subordinate, is often sufficient.
A dominant wolf maintains a tall posture with the ears perked forward and the tail lifted. This posture is frequently assumed by the leaders of the pack or the most experienced wolf in the interaction and is a sign of confidence. They may intensify the display by resting their muzzle on a subordinate's back, slinging a leg over a subordinate's back, or otherwise standing over a subordinate. Dominance displays toward packmates are not common unless a subordinate is out of line, and these postures are more often geared toward strangers. Functionally, the privilege of dominance is the right to allocate resources and is not related to strength. The most readily respected and successful wolves, and therefore the dominant wolves, are not often the largest or strongest, but the most cooperative.
Conversely, submission is conveyed by a lowered or crouched posture with the eyes averted, since direct eye contact is considered disrespectful among wolves. Submissive wolves tend to keep their tails lowered or even tucked under their bellies, depending on the circumstance. Almost all individuals in a wolf pack will submit to the leader so long as they are content with their place in the pack, and submission displays are more commonplace than dominance displays. Submission is not a sign of weakness, but rather, a sign of satisfaction and trust. A wolf who is not happy with their place in the pack may refuse to submit to their leader and invite aggression, but it is more likely for them to avoid the threat and simply leave.
Wolves may submit actively or passively. Active submission involves crouching in front of the dominant wolf and licking at the dominant wolf's mouth. This is believed to be a sign of intimacy and acceptance. Passive submission involves rolling onto the back and exposing the belly and genitals to the dominant wolf, who may stand over the submitting wolf and accept the display or may refuse the display and attack. Attacks on packmates are rare.