The influence of social and endocrine factors on urine-marking by captive wolves (Canis lupus)

Abstract

Although serum hormones varied seasonally in all adult animals, only dominant male and female wolves urine-marked. Serum testosterone and mine-marking rates, which increased during the fall/winter breeding season, were positively correlated in both male and female dominant wolves. Estradiol, which increased in conjunction with proestrus and estrus, was not correlated with female urinemarking. These findings suggest that hormonal influence on urine-marking in the wolf is modulated by social factors and contrast with those for both domestic dogs and coyotes, two other members of the genus Cards. 8 1990 Academic press, Inc.Of the numerous investigations of canid scent-marking, none have examined possible physiological influences (

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

“…Captive breeding male and female Wolves urinemark at all times of the year, with the peak frequency during the winter breeding season, and with all studies except that by Ryon and Brown (1990) observing that males tend to mark more year around than females (Peters and Mech 1975;Mertl-Millhollen et al 1986;Asa et al 1990;Barja and Miguel 2004).…”

“…In another, where "reproductive pairs" were studied, but no pups were born, the males increased their rate of RLU during summer, but the females did not increase their FLU rate (Barja and Miguel 2004). In two others, where no pups were involved, the RLU and FLU rates of dominant males and females reached their minimum in summer (Asa et al 1990;Ryon and Brown 1990). Testosterone tends to decrease to a minimum during summer (Asa et al 1990), as does testis size (Mech 2006).…”

“…In two others, where no pups were involved, the RLU and FLU rates of dominant males and females reached their minimum in summer (Asa et al 1990;Ryon and Brown 1990). Testosterone tends to decrease to a minimum during summer (Asa et al 1990), as does testis size (Mech 2006). This relationship suggests that urine-marking, which depends on testosterone (Asa et al 1990), would also decrease then.…”

“…Most information about Wolf urine-marking has been collected during winter by tracking Wolves in the snow (Peters and Mech 1975;Rothman and Mech 1979;Paquet and Fuller 1990;Paquet 1991;Zub et al 2003) or during other seasons by studying captive Wolves (Harrington 1981; Raymer et al 1984Raymer et al , 1986Asa et al 1986Asa et al , 1990Mertl-Millhollen et al 1986;Ryon and Brown 1990;Barja and Miguel 2004). Only scattered mentions can be found of free-ranging Wolves urine-marking during summer (Clark 1971;Haber 1977;Mech 1991Mech , 1995, and only one study of Wolf groundscratching in summer has been done (Zub et al 2003).…”

Territorial defense by coyotes (<i>Canis latrans</i>) in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming: who, how, where, when, and why

“…Bekoff and Wells (1986) also observed an increase in intrusions by nongroup coyotes during winter. Similarly, an increase in aggression during the breeding season due to elevated levels of reproductive hormones (Asa et al 1990) could also explain the increased level of territory defense during breeding; or both factors (food and mates) may contribute to heightened defense during winter. The increase in defense during the pup season may be tied to den and pup defense.…”