Researchers from Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom have found a way to identify wolves just by hearing their howl. With an archive of wolf calls, the researchers were able to match the howl with the individual wolf by analyzing the volume and pitch using a computer program system.
Researchers from Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom have found a way to identify wolves just by hearing their howl.
With an archive of wolf calls, the researchers were able to match the howl with the individual wolf by analyzing the volume and pitch using a computer program they developed.
PhD student Holly Root-Gutteridge, who led the research said: “In scientific terms this is really exciting, because it means that if we hear a howl on one night we can tell if it is or isn't the same wolf that you hear on subsequent nights.”
She said that the vocal identification system might also be used for other canine species.
The system had a 100 percent rate of accuracy for identifying individual wolves by their howling, and 97 percent accuracy when wolves were howling together in a chorus.
This is the first study to have that high of an accuracy rate when looking at wild wolf calls.
Other studies only analyzed the pitch of the wolf calls, or used captive wolves as study subjects.
Wolves can reportedly identify each other based on their unique howl.
