ETHIOPIAN WOLVES ► Social behaviour

Ethiopian wolves' dispersal movements are tightly constrained by the scarcity of suitable unoccupied habitat. Males do not disperse and are recruited into philopatric packs; most females disperse at two years of age. They become 'floaters' using narrow ranges between pack territories until a breeding vacancy becomes available, or aleave the population and died.

As a result of delayed dispersal, wolves formd discrete and cohesive social packs that communally share and defend an exclusive territory. A pack can be formed by 3 to 13 adults (of which 3-8 are related adult males, 1-3 adult females, 1-6 yearlings and 1-6 pups), but in less productivity areas wolves also live in pairs.

The home ranges of neighbouring packs are largely discrete, forming a mosaic of packs occupying all available habitat. The home ranges are stable in time, drifting only during major pack readjustment after the disappearance of a pack or significant demographic changes. Annual home ranges average arounf 6km2 in prime habitats and 13 km2 in areas of lower prey biomass.

Wolves congregate for social greetings and border patrols at dawn, noon and evenings, and rest together at night. They break up to forage individually in the morning and early afternoon. Wolves sleep in the open, curled up, with nose beneath the tail. Several animals may sleep close together. They do not use dens to rest at night, and during the breeding season only pups and nursing females use the den. Scent marking of territory boundaries, via urine posts, scratching, and faeces, and vocalizations, are common and function in advertising and maintaining territories.

Packs patrol and scent-mark their territory boundaries at dawn, evening, and often at noon. Tandem-marking trips are regularly carried out by the whole pack but more often only adults of both sexes take part, led by one of the dominant pair, usually the female. All wolves, independent of social rank, scent-mark objects with raised leg urinations and scratches. Aggressive interactions with neighbouring packs are common. They are highly vocal and always end with the smaller group fleeing from the larger. Home range overlap and aggressive encounters between packs are highest during the mating season.

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