Animals communicate in a variety of ways and calls are used for a number of important behaviors. Temperature, wind, time of day, and human activities can affect animals’ use of calls, particularly over long distances. Effects of group size on the use of calls can be particularly influential in territorial social carnivores. Where gray wolves (Canis lupus) are hunted by humans, for example, howling may make it easier for hunters to locate individuals and ultimately increase mortality. We hypothesized that a suite of factors would affect wolves’ responses to simulated howling. Specifically, we predicted that howling behavior would increase with (a) group size, (b) pup age, and (c) during crepuscular time periods and howling behavior would decrease (a) where wolves were harvested and (b) when it was hot or windy. Contrary to our prediction, larger groups did not respond as quickly to simulated wolf howls as smaller groups did and minimum and maximum daily temperatures were not good predictors of wolf howling response rates. Individuals in small litters of pups may have responded more quickly to howls than those in large litters because they are eager to seek safety from and have socialization with adults returning from foraging bouts. Although harvest did not appear to affect vocal communication by wolves, group size, pup age, time of day, wind, and number of howls emitted greatly affected wolves’ behavior and responses during howling surveys. Howling responses did not change because of harvest; response rates from wolves were nearly identical with (2.2%) and without (2.3%) harvest. The year‐round benefits of long‐distance vocal communication may outweigh the costs of increased mortality arising from howling during harvest season.

中文翻译：

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影响狼social叫行为的环境和社会因素

动物以多种方式进行交流，并且呼叫被用于许多重要的行为。温度，风，一天中的时间以及人类活动都会影响动物对电话的使用，特别是在长途通话中。团体人数对通话使用的影响在地区社交食肉动物中尤其重要。那里的灰狼（犬狼疮）是由人类狩猎的，例如，啸叫可能会使猎人更容易找到个体并最终增加死亡率。我们假设一系列因素会影响狼对模拟啸声的反应。具体而言，我们预测，在夜间，随着（a）种群规模，（b）幼崽年龄和（c）的（叫行为会增加，并且（a）收割狼群和（b）变热时的how叫行为会减少。或刮风 与我们的预测相反，较大的群体没有像较小的群体那样对模拟的狼how声做出反应，并且最低和最高的每日温度并不是狼how声反应率的良好预测指标。幼崽中的个体对large叫的反应可能比幼崽中的个体更快，因为他们渴望从觅食回返的成年人中寻求安全感并与成年人交往。尽管收成似乎并未影响狼的声音交流，但群体大小，幼崽年龄，一天中的时间，风和发出的ls叫声数量，在greatly叫调查中极大地影响了狼的行为和反应。harvest叫反应并未因收获而改变；狼的有效率（2.2％）和没有（2.3％）几乎相同。长期人声交流的全年收益可能超过收获季节how叫所致死亡率增加的代价。一天中的时间，风和发出的how叫声数量极大地影响了狼how调查期间狼的行为和反应。harvest叫反应并未因收获而改变；狼的有效率（2.2％）和无（2.3％）几乎相同。长期人声交流的全年收益可能超过收获季节how叫所致死亡率增加的代价。一天中的时间，风和发出的how叫声数量极大地影响了狼how调查期间狼的行为和反应。harvest叫反应并未因收获而改变；狼的有效率（2.2％）和无（2.3％）几乎相同。长期人声交流的全年收益可能超过收获季节how叫所致死亡率增加的代价。