Abstract:
Through the use of facilities such as the Connecticut Beardsley zoo, the Conservation Center in South Salem, NY (Westchester County) to that of wild wolf behavior from National Geographic documentary videos and reference books, we can observe the drastic differences of wolf behavior which widely depends on their environment, the food, and the amount of social contact they have within their pack. Wolves show a great deal of dominance over their territories, packs, and the source of food available to them. This interchanging network is cultivated through the relationships wolves have with their surroundings, therefore every stimulant produces a survival reaction that is an embodiment of their behaviors. If a wolf is captive and has no reason to fight for its survival by protecting a territory or hunting for its next meal, then the wolf ’s behavior and instincts are cut down to more than fifty percent. The predator instincts imbedded into the genetic makeup of a wolf, makes a wolf, a wolf. The purpose of this study was to observe and measure wolf social and non-social behaviors in captivity and to compare these behaviors to those seen in the wild. Results demonstrated that the wolf behavioral repertoire is much reduced in captivity.
