Wolf Body Language and More

by **MoonShine** Sun Aug 14, 2011 8:00 am

Dominance – A dominant wolf stands stiff legged and tall. The ears are erect and forward, and the hackles bristle slightly. Often the tail is held vertically and curled toward the back. This display asserts the wolf's rank to others in the pack. A dominant wolf may stare at a submissive one, pin it to the ground, "ride up" on its shoulders, or even stand on its hind legs.

Submission (active) – During active submission, the entire body is lowered, and the lips and ears are drawn back. Sometimes active submission is accompanied by muzzle licking, or the rapid thrusting out of the tongue and lowering of the hindquarters. The tail is placed down, or halfway or fully between the legs, and the muzzle often points up to the more dominant animal. The back may be partly arched as the submissive wolf humbles itself to its superior; a more arched back and more tucked tail indicate a greater level of submission.

Submission (passive) – Passive submission is more intense than active submission. The wolf rolls on its back and exposes its vulnerable throat and underside. The paws are drawn into the body. This posture is often accompanied by whimpering.

Anger – An angry wolf's ears are erect, and its fur bristles. The lips may curl up, pucker, or pull back, and the teeth are displayed. They will often look the wolf they are angry with directly in the eyes.The wolf may also arch its back, lash out, or snarl.

Fear – A frightened wolf attempts to make itself look small and less noticable; the ears flatten against the head, and the tail may be tucked between the legs, as with a submissive wolf. There may also be whimpering or barks of fear, and the wolf may arch its back. A frightened wolf may also snarl and growl, but they will pull back their lips farther in a "grimace" while angry wolves lips will pucker, almost as if pouting.

Defensive – A defensive wolf flattens its ears against its head.

Aggression – An aggressive wolf snarls and its fur bristles. The wolf may crouch, ready to attack if necessary.

Suspicion – Pulling back of the ears shows a wolf is suspicious. The wolf also narrows its eyes. The tail of a wolf that senses danger points straight out, parallel to the ground.

Relaxation – A relaxed wolf's tail points straight down, and the wolf may rest on its belly or on its side. The wolf may also wag its tail. The further down the tail droops, the more relaxed the wolf is.

Tension – An aroused wolf's tail points straight out, and the wolf may crouch as if ready to spring.

Happiness – As dogs do, a wolf may wag its tail if in a joyful mood. The tongue may roll out of the mouth.

Hunting – A wolf that is hunting is tensed, and therefore the tail is horizontal and straight.

Playfulness – A playful wolf holds its tail high and wags it. The wolf may frolic and dance around, or bow by placing the front of its body down to the ground, while holding the rear high, sometimes wagged. This resembles the playful behavior of domestic dogs.
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Source: Many places, lol.
Now for displays...
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Ambivalence Display
An ambivalence display may be enacted when the Wolf is confused, afraid, or trying to warn off an intruder or submissive. The Wolf will bristles his or her pelt (raise hackles) in order to appear larger and more threatening, at the same time the eyes will take on an angry wild expression and the lips will curl back to expose the fangs and gums. It is felt that red is a threatening color in nature, thus baring the gums and tongue, which is pressed forward between the incisors during the display, makes for an especially effective threatening appearance. The purpose of this display is to look dangerous... it is a warning meant to avoid violence, not to incite it... and is not used during hunting or stalking, as prey animals are never warned, just attacked, killed, and eaten. Ambivalence display is often implemented during the defensive threat posture and during a dominance display in order to demand the respect of submissive Wolves.

Many experts consider the Ambivalence display as one of mixed emotions; where snarling and bearing of fangs represents aggression, and the extending of the tongue is a simultaneous act of submission. This, of course, is the very definition of ambivalence, but I have difficulty agreeing with this opinion, and think of this posture as more of threat display.

Defensive Threat
This is a bodily posture where the Wolf crouches and prepares for possible attack of an intruder or rival. It is a condition of readiness, more or less devised to warn off or threaten a possible combatant. The Wolf assumes an ambivalent facial expression while attempting to stare down an opponent. If pressed during this posture, wolves will generally resort to violence in order to defend themselves or take corrective action against subordinate pack members.

Dominant Parade
This is posture is generally implemented by an alpha male to show off his rank to subordinates. The Wolf parades around in proud fashion with head up high, ears forward, eyes secure and direct, and tail raised or level with the spine. An alpha Wolf who approaches a subordinate in this way expects respect and is often rewarded by an act of active submission to prove one's devotion.

Fighting, pin down
Wolves often spar, especially while they are pups and yearlings to establish place in the pack hierarchy. One of the most detrimental occurrences for a Wolf during a fight is to get brought down and pinned. During ritualistic combat this usually loses the match and proves the standing Wolf as dominant, but in deadly combat it can expose vital areas of the body, like the throat, leaving it prone to a killing bite.

Fighting, Snapping Attack
A snapping attack is an aggressive forward rush, where the Wolf is crouched with tail cocked, lips pulled back, fangs bared, ears forward, and eyes wild and threatening. The snapping attack rarely makes contact, however, and usually comes up short so that the teeth merely snap together with a loud clap. This posturing is more threat display/warning than actual attack, thus it is often referred to simply as "snapping" or "snap" behavior. This posture is often used during "dominance" where an alpha is attempting to regain control of subordinate Wolves.

Hunting and Stalking
When Wolves approach their prey they generally try to gain surprise by looking small or crouching below the level of the grass. Also, when making a snapping attack it benefits the attacker to maintain a low center of gravity so as not to loose balance and fall victim to a pin-down. To achieve this end, Wolves generally crouch and adopt a somewhat defensive posture as they approach their potential opponent. Note that the snarling Wolf in movies, looming around their victim is not only vilifying, but in general totally erroneous. Wolves only display ambivalence when they are attempting to avoid conflict and warn off a potential opponent. When Wolves hunt they seek every advantage of stealth, for their purpose is not to warn away, but to win a meal for themselves.

Play Bow
Wolves love to play; it's one of their favorite group activities, right up there with hunting as a group. The play bow is an invitation to other Wolves to romp and play. The play bow is a deep forward bow, kind of like stretching, but there is no yawn, just an occasional woof-like vocalization with paws stretched forward, rump raised high, and tail straight out or wagging.

Running, fear
When a Wolf is afraid and runs to escape danger, the head is lowered, the tail is tucked, and the ears are laid back.

Running, play/hunting
When Wolves run while playing or chasing pray they tend to be relaxed and cheerful, with head raised, ears in a somewhat neutral posture, and tail out straight or free hanging. Wolves love games of chase where they race each other. The lead Wolf in such games often finds his or her tail grabbed by the "tailing" Wolf.

Scent Marking
Scent plays an important role in lupine communications. A wolf is capable of smelling the details of an odor with a dozen times more accurately than a domestic canine, and probably a hundred times more accurately than a human being. Wolves have good vision, but really don't trust their eyes when identifying each other; they trust their sense of smell though, and rely on it to identify their territory and each other.

Wolves scent mark by urinating on a tree stump, a bush, or over another Wolf's mark or scat. Both males and females will mark by lifting a hind leg while semi-squatting to releasing a squirt of urine containing their own individual musk. Special anal scent glands also excrete an individual's scent onto their scat as they defecate. Other Wolves smelling these marks will know where a particular Wolf has been and the extent of his or her territory. Wolves know these scent marks so well that they may even know where a Wolf has been and what a Wolf has been eating during the customary genital sniffing that occurs while greeting each other.

Scent marking is quite important during mating season, when the male will mark over the female's urine and scat, and visa-versa, to indicate their mutual scent to others as being mated. This procedure is often referred to as "double-marking," and is accomplished by following the female around and immediately lifting leg and urinating over where she has recently defecated or peed. Double-marking is a very important aspect of pair bonding, and it is thought that the pair comes to associate each other's union through the consistency of their mutual marks; this may well be a kind of lupine wedding band made of golden fluid, rather than golden metal.

Scent Rolling
Scent rolling is likely the way Wolves tell each other where they've been and what interesting smells they've discovered. Wolves often find things with unusual odors, and upon deciding something is pretty neat, will flop down and roll their whithers against the whatever-it-is to collect a sniff sample. Wolves not only collect carrion odors but also the scent of dung, flowers... almost anything the smell of might impress family and friends. It may be as simple as this: lupines enjoy wearing their style of perfume just as some humans do.

Stretching, yawning
Stretching is initiated by a low forward bow with paws straight ahead, toes spread, rump raised high, and tail raised or back straight. Then the position is reversed so that the fore legs and head are raised, hind paws are pushed back, paws are curled under, pads sometimes skyward, and the tail lowered or pressed to one side. The stretch is usually accompanied by a yawn.

Submission, active
Active submission often looks like a subordinate Wolf begging the dominant for forgiveness. The submissive assumes a crouching posture with curled down rump and tail tucked and/or wagging. Then the submissive nuzzles and licks at the dominant's chin, lips, nose, and muzzle as is often seen in ritual greeting. The dominant will usually gaze ahead, raising the muzzle while accepting this display of respect and/or affection, with a bristled, but cool, appearance. This posture likely represents bowing and flattering the king in order to stave off possible disfavor.

More on Passive Submission
Passive submission takes two modes, rolling over and standing. The most common passive submissive posture is indicated by the subordinate Wolf rolling over onto the back and presenting the belly to the dominant Wolf. The submissive usually folds the paws across the chest and lifts the hind quarters. Occasionally, if the dominant Wolf is being quite aggressive, the subordinate may urinate. The submissive Wolf's tail may or may not be tucked. The dominant Wolf then stands over and sniffs and/or licks the muzzle and throat of the submissive Wolf. A less common mode of passive submission is very much like active submission, minus the nuzzling and licking activity. The subordinate Wolf tucks rear and tail and crouches down with ears and muzzle lowered.

Source: http://wolfhowl.org/ Warning, not all of the content is child-friendly.

Originally written by Sasuke.