Adorable Study Tests How Dogs Respond to Wild Wolf Calls - And, Yes, There's Footage

12 February 2023

By TESSA KOUMOUNDOUROS



(Gáti Oszkár Dániel)
Without convenient access to phones for pens for letter-writing, wolves must rely on howls to communicate long distances. These woeful wails allow the social mammals to maintain their territories as well as keep track of and stay in synchrony with other pack members.

While dogs (Canis familiaris) are descendants of wolves (Canis lupus), some dogs are not known to howl at all, whereas others, like sled dogs, will do so frequently.

A new study exposes family dogs to wolf howls to better understand why some of our canine companions no longer seem to bother with this seemingly important form of dog communication.

Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) ethologist Fanni Lehoczki and colleagues put 68 purebred pet dogs to the test by observing their reactions to recordings of wild wolf howls, which can be seen in adorable clips below: