
Wolf Ethology Class Resources
Welcome to Wolf Ethology at the International Wolf Center, where you will learn from wolf care staff about wolf behavior, ecology, and biology through hands on experiences. You will practice wolf behavior data collection by observing our ambassador wolves, and monitor wolf activity in the Ely area through camera trapping, telemetry, and howling surveys. We also will share our approach to the care and management of our ambassador wolves.
Here you can access numerous resources that we will discuss and additional resources for individual learning.
IWC history and our ambassadors
- The Early History of the International Wolf Center
- Wolf Pup Social and Physical Development Chart
- Pros and cons of socialization
- Attachment to humans in wolf pups – Hall et al. 2015
Reading a Wolf 101
Behavioral data collection tools and training
- Ethology Definition
- Wolf Behavior Dictionary/Ambassador Wolf ID
- IWC mobile Ethogram
- Training – IWC Mobile Ethogram
- Wolf behavioral categories
- Questions that help shape behavioral data collection
- Animal Behavior Schematics
Wolf taxonomy
- Morpohological relationships among gray wolf populations – Khidas 2023
- Wolf evolution and taxonomy – Nowak
- Canis lupus soupus – Mech 2011
Dog domestication
- Dog ancestry and domestication
- Dogs were domesticated once from a lost population of wolves
- Neophobia and exploration in wolves and dogs – Moretti et al. 2015
Wolf behavior and ecology
- Ravens Give Wolves a Reason to Live in Packs
- Details of a confrontation between two wild wolves
- Dyad Monthly Association Rates – Barber-Meyer & Mech, 2015
- Sexually dimorphic aggression – Cassidy et al. 2017
- Group composition effects on aggressive interpack interactions – Cassidy et al. 2015
- Diel predator activity drives a dynamic landscape of fear – Kohl et al. 2018
- Influence of parasitic infection on behavior – Meyer et al. 2022
Camera trapping studies
- Freund et al. 2023 – Fishing Wolves
- Garland et al. 2020 – Acoustic vs photographic monitoring of wolves
- Hecht & Rice, 2015 – Citizen science: new direction in canine behavior research
- Russo et al. 2022 – Estimating abundance of Mexican wolves
- Šver et al. 2016 – Monitoring wolves on wildlife crossing structures
- Trolliet et al. 2014 – Use of camera traps for wildlife studies
Wolf-Human conflict and coexistence
- Are wolves dangerous to humans?
- What good are wolves?
- Where can wolves live and how can we live with them? – Mech 2017
- The fear of wolves: review of wolf attacks on humans – Linnell et al. 2002
- Wolf attacks on human: update for 2002-2020 – Linnell et al. 2021
- Wolf-human encounters in Alaska and Canada – McNay 2002
- Fatal wolf attack findings – Alaska Department of Fish and Game 2011
- Designing the landscape of coexistence – Rio-Maior et al. 2019
- Coexistence of wolves and humans in densely populated region of Germany – Ronnenberg et al. 2017
- The effectiveness of livestock protection measures against wolves – Bruns et al. 2020
- Coexistence in ecological corridors: understanding wolf tolerance in Italy – Bongi et al. 2023
- Wolf-human coexistence in the Alps: the LIFE WolfAlps EU project
Wolf Research Projects