WOLFTALKERS

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When I explain to others the intensity of interaction that takes place between me and the wolves during a call session, I am usually met with raised eyebrows and the odd chuckle of disbelief.

Individual animals and/or entire packs often come within meters of my calling position or work perimeters, even though they are completely aware of my "human scent". We have observed them straining to look beyond the human figure with the expectation of encountering and confronting a perceived intruder. When I relay to others the high percentage of visual contact we experience during our fieldwork sessions, many professionals are quick to point out that "It is not uncommon for a wolf to come into close proximity of humans in such situations, but the animal is more apt to be driven through curiosity than with a desire to communicate".

This fact is very true. Curiosity will often cause dominant wolves and Sigma's (loners) to venture into close proximity of the human howler/caller. However, how many callers can boast entire packs consisting of seven or twelve wolves, circling within only meters of the investigating team for periods of 90 minutes or more? Furthermore, we have conducted experiments where we have purposely called wolves into visual contact with the investigators revealing our position, allowed them to retreat several kilometers and then called them back one more time. Even though we have made them aware of human presence, they still return in search of the intruder trespassing on their territory, drawn towards us solely by vocalization.

Thank You for visiting the WOLFTALKERS webpage. Our site dedicates itself to the research and study of the verbal/audio vocalization and communicational abilities of the North American wolf. Although we have defined the objectives of our study and outlined each within our hypothesis, we are quite often asked "What it is, that we actually do?" I suppose the confussion relating to our study stems from the fact that, as far as we are aware, we are the only ones conducting this type of research that uses human to wolf vocalized contact/communication.

I have been reminded on many occasions by others in the same profession, that there exist numerous publications within the scientific community with regards to wolf vocalization and that much has been written on their communicational abilities. However, I have failed to aquire any literature pertaining specifically to interpretation of the many vocals used by wolves to communicate with one another. Nor can I find documentation from any study relative to ours, which attempts to decipher, interpret and place meaning to specific vocals made by wolves. Most written material focuses mainly on how wolves behave and respond vocally to other forms of audio stimuli such as human imitations and/or electronic recording of a different wolf howls.

If any reader is aware of other research/studies pertaining directly to the identification and interpretation of specific wolf howls, please forward a link to this website at wolftalk1@gmail.com. We would like to hear about it.