Included in the term “emotion” are the concepts of “internal drives” (Grandin 2005) or “internal motivational states” (Lord et al. We share many midbrain structures for emotions with other vertebrate species. Even in chimps, “the production of sound in the absence of the appropriate emotional state seems to be almost an impossible task” (Goodall 1986). Instead, the primary basis of vertebrate vocal communication is believed to be emotion (Suddendorf 2013), a conclusion reached by Charles Darwin in The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals (which is still widely quoted). A preponderance of biologists would assert that non-human animals cannot engage in complex reasoning, especially reasoning that involves conceptualizing a number of steps (Hauser et al. These higher levels of intent require a well-developed prefrontal cortex that wolves simply do not have. Intent can be classified by levels of complexity (Dennett 1983) and involve recursion or sequential reasoning such as we humans use all the time (Chomsky 1988, Corballis 2011). Was 302’s intent based on remembering a similar, successful experience either learned directly or observed? Or, did he think it out, on-the-spot reasoning, which is much more problematical? Intent itself, if based on memory and learning, can trigger vocalization, as anyone knows whose dog barks to be let in. And that inconsistency is based on considerable underlying motivational complexity, not only in wolf howls, but in all animal vocal communication.Ĭompeting triggers that may cause wolves to howl include some basic, but surprisingly slippery concepts. That inconsistency is shared in most of the 22 social or environmental situations we identified in Yellowstone. Regardless, as a prelude to a move, howling is used inconsistently. Or, one wolf howls, the whole pack joins in, and then they move off more or less together. Over the span of a few minutes, one wolf after another gets up and heads out the same way. Most often a move is initiated in silence. Sometimes the pack moves, but not always. We have seen it infrequently both before and since. This situation was one where a clear expression of intent seems to have been involved, at least subjectively. Why did he howl? The off-the-cuff explanation, overheard from a woman standing nearby, was that he was telling his fellow pack mates to get off their butts and follow. Soon the whole pack was down in the willows and into a draw that led them out of sight. This time a few wolves got up and started his way. Short, deep howls, breaking both up and down in pitch. He trotted briskly downriver, disappearing briefly behind a mist curtain, and then reappearing on a knoll.Īfter looking back at his pack, he threw up his head and howled. But the black beta male, by that time famous, or infamous, known simply as “302” seemed anxious to move on. When they became visible, most of the pack were bedded while others were drifting around. Their howls filtered to us through the mist. Out there, initially invisible, was the big Druid Peak pack. It was a deep-freeze January morning, with mist peeling back in strands off the open riffles of the Lamar River like a series of gossamer curtains hiding a stage, eventually revealing the willow flats of the far shore.
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