Urine-marking and Ground-scratching by Free-ranging Arctic Wolves, Canis lupus arctos, in Summer

Authors

  • L. David Mech U. S. Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, 8711 - 37th Street, SE, Jamestown, North Dakota 58401- 7317

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v120i4.356

Keywords:

Arctic Wolf, Canis lupus arctos, ground-scratching, odor, scent-marking, territoriality, urine-marking, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada

Abstract

Urine-marking and ground-scratching were observed in an Arctic Wolf (Canis lupus) pack on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada, during 16 summers between 1986 and 2005. All previously known urination postures and ground-scratching by breeding males and females were seen, and incidence of marking and scratching was greatest when non-pack wolves were present. Observations of urine-marking of food remains supported the conclusion from a captive Wolf study that such marking signals lack of edible food.

Downloads

Issue

Vol. 120 No. 4 (2006)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright for Canadian Field-Naturalist content is held by the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club, except for content published by employees of federal government departments, in which case the copyright is held by the Crown. In-copyright content available at the Biodiversity Heritage Library is available for re-use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence. For usage of content at the BHL for purposes other than those allowed under this licence, contact us.

 

To request use of copyright material,  please contact our editor, Dr. Dwayne Lepitzki: editor -at- canadianfieldnaturalist -dot- ca