The wolf is the same dog. Why doesn't it bark? Do wolves bark like dogs
Think about some interesting features of your dog's daily behavior: they can howl, dig holes, sniff out odors and tree bark. All these actions constitute the behavior transmitted at the genetic level from their ancestors - wolves. We think you will not argue with us on this score. In fact, some of these traits, of course, are definitely generic, but it turns out that not all of them can be considered as such.
Wolves don't bark
Since dogs are the direct descendants of wolves, it becomes apparent that many of the innate behaviors of our four-legged friends come from their ancestors. However, it is interesting that barking cannot be considered as such. In fact, a mature wolf in the wild does not bark like our pets. This behavior is limited to cubs and juveniles.
The reason for the lack of barking is that in the wild, wolves know that if they are in real danger, it is best to behave as quietly as possible, without revealing their presence in any way until the threat disappears.
The dog's reaction to a direct threat
On the other hand, our canine companions prefer to deal with threats in the opposite direction - barking at them until they leave. But if wolves are the ancestors of dogs, why is their ability to bark nullified?
Some researchers believe that dogs have acquired this behavior because of their close relationship with humans. Humans are very musical, and our puppies quickly learn to hear, understand us and react in a similar way. But we're not that great at deciphering their non-verbal cues.
To make sure that their owners understand that they are trying to communicate, our dogs use certain verbal cues by default. However, there are other researchers who believe that the barking of a dog is associated with years of selection. We prefer dogs that are gentle and friendly, and as a result, we have developed these characteristics in our pets over the years. And, you guessed it, the barking is just side effect these relatively recently acquired skills.
Output
If you ask what is barking, then we will answer that it is just one of many attractive behaviors, without which we cannot imagine a four-legged creature.
Whether our dogs bark in order to communicate with us, or simply because they look more like a young than a mature wolf, we perceive this behavior as a natural reaction of our four-footed friend to certain stimuli.
Since olden times, people revered and feared Wolf, he was called the elder brother, they frightened children with him, they composed legends and retellings about him. The wolf genus itself is quite extensive, including coyotes and jackals, but it is wolves became the direct and closest ancestors of the domestic dog.
Wolf - a fairly large predator from the family of mammals, which could previously be found almost everywhere in Russia and the CIS. But due to a number of problems caused by the pace of technological progress, the habitat of these animals has significantly narrowed in recent decades.
The name itself " wolf"Comes from the ancient Slavic language, has long-standing Indo-European roots and literally means" drag"Or" drag ".
It turns out that the Wolf family is quite extensive - there are about 32 different subspecies of wolves, but on the territory of Russia there are only six main ones - tundra, Central Russian forest, Mongolian, Caucasian, Siberian and steppe.
What do wolves eat
Main wolf diet are ungulates, depending on the habitat. It can be reindeer, horses, roe deer, pigs, moose, goats - both wild and domesticated.
In desert regions, wolves hunt antelope and sheep. In connection with the expansion of human activity and the introduction of humans into the natural habitat of wolves, attacks by predators on livestock farms occur.
But wolf population is constantly decreasing due to lack of food and constant hunting for them. During difficult times, Wolves can feed on frogs, lizards and even large insects. They sometimes eat berries, mushrooms and fruits, and to quench their thirst they can plunder a watermelon or melon planting.
Where does the Wolf live
Wolves prefer wooded areas and choose flat or mountainous areas with sparse vegetation and a temperate climate for housing.
Pack of wolves usually occupies an area of \u200b\u200b30 to 60 km and prefers a sedentary mode of existence. But in the spring-summer period, this site is divided into fragments in accordance with the hierarchy of the pack: the best goes to the strongest Wolves.
Wolves can also be found in the north in the taiga and tundra, not far from human settlements.
Wolves are smart and understand that where there is a person, you can always profit from something. And although they harm agriculture, on the other hand, they also regulate the balance of the ecosystem, controlling the number of animals and acting as orderlies of the forest.
Are wolves dangerous to humans?
Scientists have come to the conclusion that the Wolf will not attack a person just like that, since he has an instinct for self-preservation. But sometimes there are sad cases of attacks by animals suffering from rabies. Or with a severe lack of feed.
Breeding wolves
The mating season at Wolves lasts from January to April. Wolves are monogamous and lead a family lifestyle, the couple sticks together until one of the partners dies.
The she-wolf does not accept the male's sexual advances before the onset of heat. Fierce fights for the attention of females, often fatal, are absolutely normal in the wolf environment.
She-wolves reach sexual maturity in the second year of life, and wolves at 3 years.
Wolves have only 1 heat per year so that the cubs are born in the warm spring time, when there is enough food around.
Wolf couple to begin with, it takes care of a safe shelter for future offspring. These can be either various secluded places or other people's burrows of badgers or polar foxes, their own burrows rarely dig.
Only the she-wolf uses the den, she is also engaged in raising little wolf cubs, which at first resemble the puppies of an ordinary dog. Usually a she-wolf gives birth to 3 to 13 cubs, and the whole flock helps them feed.
But despite close care from parents and other Wolves, in the first year of life only 20-40% of cubs survive... This is due to disease, lack of food and competition within the family, when the stronger puppies get more food, and the weaker ones gradually die.
Wolves have a rather interesting voice, which has much greater capabilities than other animals. Wolves don't just howlthey are also thought to be able to grumble, whimper, squeal, yelp, bark and growl. Moreover, they are fully aware of these sounds and understand the information voiced by their fellow tribesmen. This helps to find out where the prey is hiding, where to go hunting and even report the appearance of people. And the collective wolf howl is hallmark active social life.
By the way, Wolves can hear his fellow tribesman and transmit messages from a distance of about 8 kilometers.
The Wolf is very highly developed smell, he distinguishes smells 100 times better for a person, so the scent plays one of the main roles in the wolf family.
Wolves are strong and hardy animals that can cover the distance up to 80 km, and if necessary develop speed 60 km / h, which is one of the important conditions for survival.
In nature The wolves survive up to 15 years old, but already at 10-12 years old they show signs of old age.
The wolf also symbolizes loyalty and loyalty in the family, it is associated with many heroes. folk tales and the epics of the ancient cultures of the peoples of the North, where he personifies strength and courage. But sometimes he is perceived as an evil and negative character who is greedy and greedy, and sometimes serves the dark forces.
The first time I heard a real howl of a wolf was when I came to visit my grandmother in the village. To be honest, it became very creepy and scary from these sounds. It seemed to me that their howl was getting closer to home. Why do wolves make such sounds? Now I will dispel some myths and tell you a little about these animals.
Where do wolves live
Wolves are known in many countries of our planet. Their habitats are:
- Europe;
- Asia;
- North and South America.
In our country, wolves are also not uncommon. They live everywhere except Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. I think everyone knows that wolves are predators. Individuals can be medium to large in size. Outwardly, they are very similar to dogs. They do an excellent job with different living conditions, so it will not be difficult for them to survive, for example, in the tundra.
Wolves huddle in flocks, in which up to 40 individuals live. They mark their territory. Such a flock is headed by a pair of leaders, and the rest are their relatives and individuals who have nailed from the side. Wolves are mainly nocturnal, and during daylight hours they hide in shelters.
What does wolf howl mean
I've heard so many different options about why wolves howl. Some have almost argued that wolves are werewolves. All this, of course, is nonsense. And wolves do not howl at any moon. Wolves can howl every day, and there is no difference at all whether the moon is visible in the sky or not. You can just hear the sounds of howling at night, due to the fact that wolves begin their hunt precisely at night.
Howling for a wolf is a way of communicating. With such sounds, he can notify other flocks about the ownership of the territory. In communication with each other, they can notify about the beginning of the hunt for prey, tell about their location. Wolves are very well oriented by these sounds. And there is nothing mystical about it.
It turns out that there are even several artificially bred breeds that are a mixture of a dog and a wolf. But some even have real wolves at home. I would say that it is not a very safe idea to have such a pet.
People have a private idea that the wolf howl is to blame for our planet's nighttime companion Moon. It is she who provokes the animal to such behavior. Is this really so, or is the true reason lies in something completely different?
In fact, the Moon has nothing to do with it. In this original way, wolves communicate with each other. Well, the muzzle raised up, facing the night star, is just a coincidence. After all, wolves howl not only on a full moon, but also on cloudy days. Sometimes their howl can be heard even during the day. At the same time, for better sound propagation, they raise their head up. Well, the fact that wolves howl more often at night is easy to explain. The nights are much quieter than the day. During this time, the wind dies down and sounds spread better. As for people, they cannot see a howling wolf in the pitch darkness. Such an opportunity appears only on a moonlit night. Hence the sudden conclusions that wolves howl at the moon.
Wolves are gregarious and monogamous animals. They live in pairs, gathering in small flocks. Everyone here is ruled by a leader who coordinates the actions of the pack, keeps order, together with other wolves protects its territory, informs relatives about the prey found, organizes hunting, etc. The language of communication of animals, in addition to gestures and smells, also includes sounds. For wolves, this is barking, growling and, of course, howling. The snarling wolf looks very scary. He bares his fangs, makes a vicious expression on his face. Thus, the animal expresses the extreme degree of its dissatisfaction, and with its entire appearance shows that it is ready to move on to decisive action. Wolves rarely bark, and only if they are aggressive. Howl, however, is a kind of battle cry for them, a notice of ownership of a given territory, a method of obtaining information about the location of the flock, a method of warning relatives of danger. Depending on the goal pursued by the wolf, its tone also changes. Here is such an original communication tool for wolves.
Just like humans, each wolf has its own original voice. However, this originality is inherent in every type of wolf and every individual pack, which allows its members to easily recognize each other. These include: tonality, volume, style. All this is comparable to a piece of music, the style of which may differ, be it jazz or classical. Scientists have recorded the howl of a North American forest wolf and compared it to the howl of an African jackal. The sound was completely different. In addition, it has been observed that the howl of a lone wolf differs sharply from the howling of a wolf surrounded by the love and care of a pack. The love duo has a completely different mood and a different tonality.
Of course, everything we have just told you is just our guess. In some ways we can be right, and in some things we can be wrong. Over time, everything will fall into place, and we can finally understand the meaning of the wolf howl. In the meantime, we will have to be content with the knowledge that we have.
Does this sound familiar to you? It's the same every night. The dog starts barking. With the same rhythm, night after night. Wow-waw. Pause. Wow-waw. Pause. Wow-waw. Minute after minute, sometimes hour after hour, the rhythm and breaks between barking are always the same. It feels like your neighbor's dog has gone crazy.
But we know perfectly well that dogs are very intelligent creatures. Why do they sometimes bark so unreasonably? And in general, how did they start using barking to try to communicate something, for example, that a thief is trying to enter you through the window?
Scientists studying how animals communicate with each other have found many examples of how some meaning was conveyed by voice. Take the sounds of prairie dogs, for example. They bark, warning their fellows about the approach of an outsider and even about his appearance.
When dogs became domesticated, they essentially turned into overgrown yapping puppies.
But prairie dogs are not real dogs, they are rodents, members of the squirrel family, so their behavior will not tell us anything about why dogs bark. To find out why dogs have a habit of barking pointlessly, you need to focus on wolves - their closest wild relatives (the fox is the second most related). Scientists have found that adult wolves rarely bark, and if they bark, then their bark is abrupt and short. But wolf puppies bark quite a lot.
If the ancestor of the modern dog were wolves, why then do dogs bark so much and often without apparent reason? Many researchers believe the answer lies in how dogs began to live with humans.
Scientists say that wolf dogs, the ancestors of modern dogs, settled around human settlements because food was always available here. Over time, they interbred with each other, producing more and more tame offspring - dogs that people could already bring to their homes and use for their needs.
Scientists who have experimented with wild foxes for 20 years have finally managed to breed more tame foxes that are more peaceful towards humans. However, some foxes have had strange side effects. One of them had droopy ears like dogs. The sounds made by the other were very much like the barking of a pet dog.
We all know that young animals, from wolf cubs to lion cubs, are more tame and friendly than their adult counterparts. Therefore, in the process of breeding and domestication of animals, it is necessary to leave them as puppies, as it were, to prevent them from growing up. This is exactly what happened with the foxes. And this, according to scientists, happened in ancient times with wolf dogs. When dogs became domesticated, they essentially turned into overgrown yapping puppies. And what does a puppy do, even if he is a wolf cub? Barks.
So dogs can bark for absolutely no reason - with a puppy's spontaneity, so to speak for prevention. One cocker spaniel barked 907 times in 10 minutes. So when a dog is driving you crazy with its barking, think, "He's still a child." Blame evolution. And try this one more thing: "Oh, well, you finally grow up!"