Wolf pack spacing: Howling as a territory-independent spacing mechanism in a territorial population

Howling is a principle means of spacing in wolf populations. The relationship between a pack's responses to howling (replies, movements) and its location within its home range, was studied using human-simulated howling in a territorial population in northeastern Minnesota. The results indicated the responses were independent of the pack's location, or the locations of the pack and playback relation to the territory center. These results indicate that howling serves as a territory-independent spacing mechanism, that will result in the use of exclusive territories when coupled with strong, year-round site attachment, but with floating, exclusive, buffer-areas about migratory packs.