Wolf dominance behavior

An adult male wolf we radio-collared in the arctic near Eureka, Nunavut, Canada in July 2009 displayed continued dominance aggression on a younger male wolf, believed to be one of his offspring from a previous year. We suspect the behavior of the collared wolf represents domination on the part of a parent toward a maturing offspring that will eventually lead to the dispersal of that offspring. Filmed by Dean Cluff, in collaboration with Dave Mech.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• wolf
• dominance
• behavior
• arctic
• Ellesmere
• aggression
• Canis
• lupus

[casienwhey]

you should zoom in next time its hard to see it.

[HDcluff]

@casienwhey

Yes, I wish I could but I was already at my maximum zoom (10x) when recording. Zooming in for this video posting would degrade them picture even more and it would start to "fall apart".

--Dean.

[beautdogs]

Is it possible that this wolf is confused and acting oddly because it was collared? Was anesthesia used, and if so, could that contribute to increased aggression? Just wondering.

[HDcluff]

@beautdogs

We did chemically immobilize the wolf to put the collar on, and it is possible that this intervention contributed to the aggression, however we saw this wolf behave this way when we arrived, but only for about 10 seconds because our approach interrupted this behavior. Therefore, we believe that our observation is merely a continuation of his normal behavior, not a consequence of the drugging.

[HDcluff]

@InesitaEnright344

We have published a note in The Canadian Field-Naturalist which will appear soon. The paper is: Mech, L.D. and H.D. Cluff. 2010. Prolonged intensive dominance behavior between Gray Wolves, Canis lupus. Canadian Field-Naturalist 124(3).

--Dean.