Gray wolves are one of the most widespread canids, adapting to a wide range of habitats in the northern hemisphere. From mountains and deserts to dense forests, Arctic regions and even some urban areas, wolves demonstrate an impressive ecological plasticity. For example, the Canis lupus lupaster subspecies is found in North Africa, adapted to semi-arid and mountainous environments, illustrating their ability to thrive in a variety of conditions and climates.

Wolves two primary needs are sufficient prey and a retreat zone, where they can hide from their only predator: human. This enables them to live in a wide variety of environments and to have different kinds of prey, from bison (between 300 and 900 kg) to simple fish in coastal areas, as well as ungulates, deer, lagormorphs, rodents, amphibians and so on. Wolves ability to adapt has enabled them to survive the millennia, resisting all the attempts at extermination that began in the Middle Ages. They have been around for over 40 million years, while humans have only been around for 200,000. Some cultures, admiring wolves qualities as hunter and protector, even domesticated wolf cubs to help them. Even today in 2024, every single domesticated dog carries wolf DNA ! It's paradoxical, then, to hate wolves and want to exterminate them, while at the same time venerating the presence of dogs all around us, giving them an enormous place in our society, as the figures in the next chapters will show.

Today, Canis lupus is one of the most studied species in the world, and the fascination he exerts, due to his proximity and similarities to our human society in terms of social life, is powerful. Studies, which have been underway since the 1940s and have really taken off with the advent of technology, have demonstrated the wolf's abilities, whether in terms of his movements, territory management, social life, hunting methods to predate much larger and stronger prey, or learning how to circumvent the measures put in place to counter his predations, for exemple.

This inevitably brings human back to his limits, as many of us still refuse to accept that nature has total power, that it accepts no domination or control, and that everything put in place by human will, always and without exception, have a limited lifespan. It goes without saying that human's ability to evolve, question and adapt is less impressive than that of wolves. They challenges humans, which makes them one of the most divisive of animals. But, in 2024, this divide should no longer exist, simply because extreme positions (devoid of knowledge and focusing on generalization most of the time) have never allowed and will never allow us to find viable and sustainable solutions. All they do is demonstrate human's inability to coexist with nature and the living beings, by keeping us stuck in old, non-evolutionary patterns and outdated beliefs !

 

Dictionary

Pasticity      Quality of being flexible, changeable.
DNA            Molecule carrying hereditary genetic information.

Photo : JDzacovsky/Shutterstock (loup arctique) & Cécile Bloch (Canis lupus lupaster)

Wolves play a crucial role as a keystone species in many ecosystems. By occupying the top of the food chain, they effectively regulate prey populations, particularly those of large herbivores such as deer and elk. By harvesting these prey, wolves help maintain their numbers at sustainable levels for the ecosystem, preventing overpopulation. This regulation is essential to avoid over-consumption of plant resources and habitat degradation, thus promoting greater diversity among herbivores and other predators lower down the food chain. It also prevents the spread of epidemics or inbreeding in sedentary species, whose genetic renewal is impoverished (lack of mixing).

Wolves can also have significant effects on the physical structure of habitats. For example, by modifying the movement patterns and feeding habits of prey, they influence forest regeneration and the distribution of grazed areas. These changes can have long-term implications for the composition and structure of natural landscapes. The browsing of young trees and the disappearance of certain plant species cause problems that humans cannot repair, which shows that the presence of natural predators is necessary to maintain healthy biodiversity, avoiding overpopulation and its known harmful consequences.

Science has made it possible to discover the role and mechanisms specific to certain species, among themselves, on their environment, habitats, etc. But it's important to remember that only a tiny fraction of this is actually known - a bit like the tip of the iceberg, which hides the submerged part. This leaves us with a wealth of information that we don't possess, questions to which we may never have the answers. As a result, it's clear that any decision concerning nature, species or situations is unlikely to produce the results we're looking for, as all the pieces of the puzzle aren't in our (far from expert) hands. So we'll have to constantly re-evaluate, study, investigate and challenge ourselves - let's assume that we'll never have any certainty when it comes to living beings ! Science is aware of this, but human beings want answers to all their questions, solutions to all their problems. This undeniably leads to ill-considered, ill-adapted decisions which, over the last 70 years, have led to the extinction of 50% of all living species.

The role of wolves is clear : they regulate natural prey and therefore has an important and irreplaceable place in our ecosystem ! There's no point in trying to find ten, fifty or a thousand reasons to validate, tolerate/accept their presence and "authorize" them to remain full-fledged members of nature. This totally anthropocentric way of thinking and acting is the cause of the turmoil shaking the planet today ! We judge the usefulness of an animal, of a species, to decide on its right to live, totally ignoring the submerged face of the iceberg that we don't see but which is eminently important, vital: its role, its links with millions of other species, the powerful mechanisms that are woven together to make nature, the ecosystem and biodiversity function.

Dictionary

Sedentary               Staying mostly within the same perimeter, territory, moving little or not at all.
Anthropocentric       Considers humans to be the most significant central entity in the universe,
                              and apprehends reality solely from a human perspective.
 

Photo : P. Santucci

Wolves live in highly organized packs, where social dynamics are regulated by deep-rooted instincts. At the heart of each pack is a breeding pair, which guides critical decisions such as foraging and territory defense. The other members of the pack, often descendants of the breeding pair, contribute to the collective hunt and to the care and education of the pups.

The instinct for hierarchy is central to the social life of wolves, where complex interactions of dominance and submission maintain group cohesion. Dominant wolves have priority access to resources, while subordinates show their submission through behaviors such as licking the dominant wolf's muzzle and adopting submissive body postures. This social structure fosters efficient cooperation during the hunt and collective defense against threats from outside the pack.

Pack structure is, of course, constantly evolving. It varies according to the time of year, births, deaths and dispersals. And this is true throughout the pack's lifespan. Changes in the breeding pair can occur in our regions, where legal shooting (regulation), poaching and road/rail traffic are the main causes of death. From 3 to 5 adult wolves in April, we increase to 7 to 11 wolves after the birth of the cubs (on average, between 3 and 6). But then, between August and March, the numbers drop off, mainly due to cub mortality and dispersal. The numbers then return to square one. In the end, Swiss packs number only a dozen or so individuals at the height of summer (including the cubs, who don't hunt or move around until September), and between 3 and 5 at the end of winter.

Pack functioning is based on reproduction, cooperative hunting, territory defense, social cohesion and play. Play is particularly important for wolves. Play is practiced continuously by cubs and often by adults and subadults. It strengthens social bonds, builds trust and reduces conflict. It also enables them to assess their ability to establish and maintain themselves within the hierarchy (dominance relationships between members). It's important to know that because, like dogs, the more time individuals spend playing, the less aggressive their behavior. As you will discover throughout this report, the canid adopts a position of non-conflict, which is vital for his survival.

What's special about wolves is that they can accept the presence of a non-genetically related individual in their pack. According to studies, this phenomenon occurs in rather special circumstances, notably in the event of loss of members (natural death, regulation, injury) and provided that the prey reservoir is sufficient and that the foreign individual has a character/personality that is rather non-confrontational, submissive and does not represent a danger to the pack's equilibrium. It can also happen that an injured/aging or weakened member of the breeding pair is replaced by a dispersing wolf. This is more frequent in North America, where packs are much larger, as are territories. But nature is designed to ensure that, in the event of disappearance or mortality, the species can continue to function, with healthy individuals.

The social life of wolves is very similar to our own, through birth, education and social cohesion. Wolves strong bonds, respect, organization and communication resemble those of our own families. No mention is ever made of emotions, or what we call "affect" in animals, especially when they are wild (fortunately, the law forces us to take them into account for our domestic animals, even if this is still far from sufficient). But they do exist, especially bove all in a species as social and collaborative as wolves. The reaction of an individual to the loss of a member of his pack, the consequences, the restructuring, the stakes and consequences are rarely mentioned. But they are also one of the keys to a better understanding of how a species functions and how it might be managed.

A few examples show what many prefer to ignore : all animals and living beings feel pain, depression, grief, frustration and mourning. A video showing the reaction of a breeding pair to the loss of a cub in their territory, not responding to their calls, is quite edifying. The stress quickly became noticeable, going so far that the breeding female, upon her cub's return to the fold, needed time before she could approach him and move on (needing to bring down all the negative emotions this had engendered). This situation highlights the strong social bonds and emotions experienced by wolves. In Switzerland, the case of a wolf cub who suffered a poaching wound (hindquarters) is quite telling. The cub followed the pack until his condition deteriorated. He was left in one place and, every night, he would call out to his pack with plaintive howls. They would answer and come to find him, before having to leave him to go hunting. This cub died almost 3-4 months after his injury, the result of a stupid act, criminally condemnable and often practised in our regions and all over the world. Another example is the shooting of the breeding male of a Valais pack in winter 2024. His disappearance led to nightly calls for weeks. The female, and the pack as a whole, were desperate to find him. It also shows the depth of the bond between the breeding pair. Perhaps it's easier for humans to ignore the sensitivity and affect of animals, or the power of social bonds in wolves, but the reality is that, just like us, they do exist ! 

In conclusion, it's important to understand that a pack is a family ! The way of living and habits of wolves are totally different from those of their prey, who live alone, in groups or in herds, but with no family ties between members, and who have no need for organization or specific numbers to feed ! So we can't manage wolves in the same way as their prey ! Until we understand this, wolf management errors will be plentiful, with more or less unpleasant and even serious consequences.

 

Dictionary

Filiation           Relationship between an individual and its parents (cubs/subadults and the breeding pair).

Photo : Mission Loup

Wolf reproduction is carefully regulated within the pack. The breeding pair is usually the only one to reproduce. The breeding season generally occurs between February/March (mating) and early May (whelping), with gestation lasting around 63 days. Females give birth to a litter of 3 to 6 cubs on average, the number varying according to available resources, who are born blind and deaf and are totally dependent on their mothers and the pack for food and protection. For the first 2-3 weeks after birth, the breeding male is responsible for feeding the female, who only leaves the den to quench her thirst. Parental care in wolves is collective, with all pack members sharing responsibility for raising and protecting the cubs. This instinctive behavior promotes the survival of the young by ensuring adequate nutrition, education in hunting techniques and socialization within the pack, thus preparing the next generation of efficient predators.

As soon as autumn arrives, between late September and early October, the cubs begin to accompany the pack on hunts, observing and learning more experienced hunting techniques through imitation. Between the ages of 1 and 3, on average between 9 and 24 months, young wolves, called "yearlings" for the first year and then subadults, leave their original pack to find a new territory and partner, in order to form a new pack. They may also join another pack, taking the place of a fallen or missing breeder. In some cases, often as a result of over-regulation of numbers (legal shooting, hunting) at regional level, a subadult may even move away, mate and return to his original pack, enabling the pack to have two annual reproductions and attempt to make up for the losses suffered. These dispersal behaviors are also essential for ensuring genetic diversity, by enabling reproduction between unrelated individuals from different regions. This reinforces genetic resilience and adaptability to environmental change.

This dispersal phenomenon is, according to specilists, further dictated by sexual maturity, each wolf's personality and the available prey pool, all of which are determining factors. Individuals with a strong character, seeking to gain the upper hand over the breeding pair, will either choose to leave the pack on their own at breeding time (when the breeding male and female are more intolerant of subadults, and conflicts are more frequent) or be hunted because they disrupt the pack's equilibrium.

We would also like to point out that if lone wolves are seen at certain times of the year, often no more than once or twice, near villages or chalets, this is easy to explain. The first reason is simple : lone wolves are dispersers, probably young, inexperienced and unfamiliar with the territory they're in. They simply try to cross it (valleys, riverbanks, plains, etc.). They come into contact with human civilization against their will, and are sometimes even disturbed by hikers or other leisure pursuits upstream. But there's also another very clear explanation for these daytime encounters, apart from the fact that we sleep at night : as any disperser knows, his life could end quickly if he crosses the territory of a pack and comes face to face with it. As wolves hunt and travel mainly at night, the disperser chooses to cross the territory during the day, thus avoiding running into the existing pair or pack ! This minimizes the risk of potentially fatal conflicts. This behavior has nothing whatsoever to do with any "loss of fear of human" in these circumstances. We need to base our assessments not on personal, anthropomorphic impressions & opinions, but on ethology ! This branch of science, which studies the behavior of living beings, enables us to better understand why an animal behaves as it does, depending on his environment, situations, etc. It gives us a better understanding of living species.

The dispersal record is held by a wolf named "Slava", who left the Carpathians and settled in Spain (around 3,500 kilometers). The second wolf with an impressive dispersal record is M237 : this young male born in the Stagias pack (Grisons) reached the border of Slovakia, where he was unfortunately shot dead by a poacher, a 9-year-old boy accompanying his father ! He was equipped with a radio collar (GPS collar) which recorded his incredible journey, which covered 1,927 kilometers (on the ground). According to studies and observations, females disperse less far and often settle close to their birth pack. This is the case in Valais and the Jura Vaudois. The world of wolves is a very complex one, and we'd like to make this clear : anyone who thinks he knows everything, or who believes he's mastered his subject, is very naive, as this will certainly never be possible !

But before settling into a new territory, young wolves can undertake what we call exploratory "excursions" over short distances. These excursions enable them to assess the food resources available, the presence of other competing packs and the general quality of the habitat. The aim is also to teach them to hunt and live on their own, which will give them valuable experience for the time they disperse. During this exploration phase, young wolves explore their pack's territory or the surrounding area on their own. They may leave for a few hours, days or even weeks, covering considerable distances. Whether on excursions or dispersals, young wolves may have agonistic interactions with other wolves/packs, especially when crossing their territories. In rare cases, this can even lead to death. Since 1998, only one wolf has been reported to have been killed by his congeners, found dead in Graubünden in winter 2021. But other similar cases could exist, without the bodies having been found.

It's important to know that wolf mortality is very high : 40-50% in the first year of life (due to genetic weakness, malformation, accidents or other predators), rising to 60-80% in the second and third years (due to traffic or natural accidents, poaching, legal shooting or intraspecific conflicts ). In the end, wolves have a life expectancy of only 5 to 7 years in the wild. In Switzerland, the record is currently held by F07, the original breeding female of the first wolf pack in Calanda (Grisons). She had to be slaughtered because of deteriorating health (the autopsy revealed a lung tumour) at the age of 13-14. But, as you can imagine, this case is extremely rare, especially now that preventive regulation has completely changed the game through the arbitrarily shooting of individuals, without taking into account their age or their role in the pack. The Canis lupus species already regulates itself, if only through natural and human mortality (without shooting) and the eventual absence of reproduction when prey runs out or territories become saturated, thus preventing the famous exponential growth, which is much talked about but does not exist in nature, especially where predators are concerned !

Photo : F. Bruggmann

Communication plays a vital role in the social life of wolves. They use a variety of vocalizations to convey complex information between pack members. Howls, growls, moans and other vocalizations are used to coordinate group activities, warn of danger and strengthen social bonds. Each member of the pack is able to recognize the individual vocalizations of the other members, which facilitates the coordination of collective activities such as hunting and territory defense.

In addition to vocalizations, wolves use visual and olfactory signals to communicate. Body postures such as erect tail, pricked ears and bristling hair convey messages about emotional state and social position. Olfactory signals, such as territorial marking with urine and feces, play a crucial role in the delimitation and passive defense of hunting and breeding territories.

Cooperation is particularly evident when hunting. Wolves use group strategies, particularly when it comes to large herbivores such as deer, which follow a well-defined process. Initially, wolves approach their prey silently, taking advantage of their ability to blend into their environment. Once close to the prey, wolves can freeze and assess the situation, ready to spring into action if the prey becomes accessible. In a coordinated movement, they launch themselves at their target.  If the prey tries to escape, the pursuit can stretch for several hundred meters before the wolves go on the attack. When the distance is reduced, they exploit their collective strength to effectively capture the prey.

In certain circumstances, even within a pack, individuals may hunt alone. This ability to hunt alone can be observed in particular situations where environmental conditions or hunting opportunities favor it. In certain areas where prey is abundant and relatively easy to capture, a wolf may choose to hunt alone to maximize its chances of success, either to supplement the supply to the cubs or on its own account, without sharing food with other pack members. This also happens when he encounters unexpected opportunities, such as the sudden presence of prey within range. But it's clear that the organization of a pack makes it easier to prey on larger prey, as there's strength in numbers.

Solo hunting, on the other hand, can be much more difficult, leading young wolves, whether dispersing or on excursions, to fall back more easily on weaker prey, locked in and unable to flee, i.e. the livestock. Opportunism is one of the many things we have in common with wolves. This is also the reason why regulation, within packs and in a totally anarchic and arbitrary manner, can prove to be double-edged : any breakdown in the social cohesion and organization of a pack, especially the possible disappearance of one or both members of the breeding pair, can lead to the rapid and uncontrolled dispersal of young wolves, possibly inexperienced or not having completed their hunting training. Becoming solitary, without organization or support, they will then commit more damage to livestock, which is logical but, above all, totally counterproductive.

Photo : Mission Loup

A wolf pack has a home range of between 100 and 250 km2. In Switzerland, it currently averages 150 km2 in cantons with a high density of wolves and hence packs (Valais & Grisons).

The choice of territory is based first and foremost on the available prey pool, one of the most important factor. But it is also vital for wolves to have areas of retreat, in the form of forests and fields, so that they can escape from our civilization, hide and protect their cubs. But human expansion over the last fifty years has reduced the space available for wildlife and wolves, so they now have to acclimatize to our presence, in a more assertive way (and not the other way around, since it's humans who have invaded their territory to build on and enjoy many of their hobbies and outdoor activities). They therefore learn to decode us, to know when we represent a real danger to them, and this leads to encounters that can be more frequent than in vast wild territories. In Italy, some packs have even lived close to villages for decades, without this having any impact on possible conflicts, as long as we respect the simple rules explained in this dossier.

Mountainous areas are wolves favorites because they are also home to large numbers of ungulates and deer, the predator's favorite prey. Our country therefore provides all the conditions required for wolves to establish themselves, based on their needs in terms of territory and food supply.

The pack establishes its den and meeting place(s) at the center of its home range. This area is a few square kilometers in size and is heavily used from May to September, when the cubs are whelped and raised. Within this zone, no outsiders to the pack are tolerated. Any lone wolf crossing it would be in mortal danger, especially at this sensitive time of year.

Contrary to what many people still think, packs don't have well-defined territories that don't touch - quite the contrary. Very often, part of their territory overlaps that of their neighbors, in what we call "buffer zones". In these zones, there are frequent markings to indicate their presence to the neighboring pack, and obligatory olfactory communication. The management of these buffer zones is quite complex, and depends not only on the family ties that bind packs together, but also and above all on the size of each pack. Encounters between two packs in these zones could lead to conflict, as each pack defends its territory. It goes without saying that the number of individuals in a pack will be of prime importance : a pack of 10 will easily win out over a pack of 4. And the pack with the lowest numbers could suffer internal losses, which would be counterproductive for its survival. Kira Cassidy's study "Pack dynamics in Yellowstone" perfectly explains the importance of numbers in the management of these buffer zones. Unfortunately, it's not currently available, but we were lucky enough to attend her conference in 2023, and the data was very interesting, the fruit of a long research project.

If we project ourselves onto a field example, in Switzerland, we could tackle the case of the Marchairuz pack. The first litter was born in 2019, followed by one every year until 2022. As mentioned above, as subadult females tend less to move away to found their own pack (exceptions do exist, beware), in this case we have a clear situation : the neighboring packs of Risoux and Mont-Tendre had, at their base, a female from the Marchairuz pack at their head. This clearly shows the dynamics of packs in the field. And when this happens, it's not uncommon for the original pack to have a buffer zone with the others, or even cede part of its territory to them.

Unfortunately, in Switzerland today, little is said about these buffer zones, which are sometimes even completely ignored by the official authorities. This is particularly detrimental in the case of pack regulation, where shooting perimeters take little or no account of these zones. It would then be necessary to shoot only in the center of the home range, to ensure that only individuals belonging to the targeted pack are shot, as specified in the authorization sent to OFEV. The most blatant example of this was the case of the Ferpècle/Arolla and Hérens packs, during the preventive regulation shooting phase this winter. The failure to take into account a famous buffer zone (clearly visible simply by comparing official and public data) in favor of establishing shooting over the whole territory, led to the shooting of the new breeding male of the Ferpècle pack, not concerned by a shooting authorization. A cub could also be among the collateral victims. In the end, instead of taking individuals from the pack actually targeted (Hérens), the shooting also destabilized the neighboring pack. Today, two packs have therefore lost their breeding males, leading to internal movements and reorganization, and could also lead to a possible more rapid dispersal of subadults or a possible increase in attacks on livestock. Knowledge and consideration of these buffer zones is therefore vital, in order to avoid mistakes with harmful consequences for both wolves and farmers !

A wolf pack's territory management evolves throughout its life. The pack may decide to abandon its territory in favor of another, more prolific or safer one. Den and rendezvous sites can also change from one year to the next, depending on factors such as human pressure, weather conditions, internal injuries, or if one or both members of the breeding pair have changed in the meantime, and so on. Nothing is ever set in stone with wolves (and living beings), whether it's their territory, their organizational structure or their numbers.
 

Dictionary

Meeting place        Place where the wolf pack leaves its cubs in July/August/September while it goes hunting.
OFEV                    Federal Office for the Environment.
 

Plan des meutes à Yellowstone 2023 - "Yellowstone wolf project annual report" 

In conclusion, the functioning of wolves is a remarkable example of complex adaptive social behavior among animal species. Understanding their social structure, reproductive strategy and ecological role is essential to fully appreciate this iconic species, and to guide conservation efforts aimed at protecting their habitat and ensuring their long-term survival in our fragile ecosystems.

NEXT CHAPTER : THE WOLF IN HISTORY

Photo : P. Browning