Call of the Wolf

On a cold winter night freshly fallen snow hides the tracks of those who recently passed this way, making it easy to become lost in the wilderness.  The light of the full moon reflects off the freshly fallen snow, giving the forest an appearance of twilight rather than total gloom.  Trees tower all around as silent sentinels of the night.  Off in the distance a howl of a wolf pierces the darkness, followed by another and another … the hunt is on.

We’ve all grown up with the stories of wolves howling at the moon, but recent studies at the University of Vienna in Austria (Christian Science Monitor, ABC) show that wolf howling isn’t related to the full moon.  Wolves are not recluse solitary creatures stalking the night, but are very social animals with tight bonds within their pack.  The howl is a form of communication and it is more common between wolves who spend more time together.  It is a way of staying in touch when separated, which makes howls a common event during a hunt, when the pack splits up to stalk their prey.

The howl is the Call of the Wolf.  It means that a member of the pack is outside of visual range.

Even though wolves have a bad reputation, it is extremely unusual for wolves to attack humans.  Most of the bad reputation that wolves carry comes from old European superstition and lore where wolves are the supernatural predators who stalk human villagers.  The greatest threat that wolves pose today is to commercial cattle, which they will stalk and take down when their natural food supply grows thin, especially in the cold of the winter.

The January full moon is called the Wolf Moon by Native American tribes and we wish to take tonight to remind you about the rest of the pack.  Howl for your friends tonight.  Be sure to stay in touch with them!

[whohit]2014-01-15 Wolf Moon[/whohit]