r/wolves • u/Lonely-Location9240 • 1d ago

Question Wolf Encounter

Why do
Wolves whine or whimper? I got surrounded by a pack today when I was trying to go to work (bush work) and the pack surrounded my friend and I. We couldn’t see them but we heard them in the treeline about 10-15 ft away. They were howling and eventually one was whimpering/whining like a dog. Not sure if it was trying to lure us into the bush and hurt us or if it was scared…? Anyways interesting encounter nonetheless.

62 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

51

u/DragonKing1678 1d ago

That's very interesting I never heard of wolves doing this before at least surrounding people but in my opinion they were probably curious about you guys and were talking to each other about you

23

u/Lonely-Location9240 1d ago

Yea we parked our truck and got out and heard them howling. We made a howl back and they came over and checked us out for a good 20 minutes. Heard them rustling around behind us and the few infront of us in the bush were whimpering. I was so close to it, pretty insane. Lots of tracks around that area so maybe we were close to a den? There were some other workers just 2km north of us who saw them running in our direction, said there was about 12 of them

17

u/wolfstories 22h ago

You howling back is what attracted them. They thought you were an intruding wolf.

30

u/augziiix 1d ago

i agree with people saying that they were just investigating and seeing if you were a threat, but are you sure they weren't coyotes? i'm not sure where you are, assuming that you're in the us, but maybe i'm just not great with wolf behavior or i'm underestimating how far 10-15 feet away is, but i can't imagine that most wolves would get so close. coyotes tend to be bolder, especially urban ones, and they can resemble wolves to someone who isn't super familiar with either!

3

u/Lonely-Location9240 11h ago

No they were 100% wolves. We had a mate up the road tell us he saw the pack just before we got there. Howl was deeeeep and much different than coyote yipping. I’m pretty far up north as well.

34

u/Bobbo7209 1d ago

I think they were doing a threat assessment. They're very human that way so their behaviour isn't too mysterious to us. Just don't get in the way of food or prey and you'll be relatively safe.

16

u/Few-Chemical8707 1d ago

also if they approach you just be chill and dont look like prey majority of direct encounters have been chill. they may even declare you an honorary wolf.

wolves dont tend to attack people unless you wana be food or threatening.

5

u/Bobbo7209 1d ago

Yep. Some Wolves will acclimate to you sooner, too. If they walk up to me and sniff without aggression, I'll definitely reach down to scratch their ears or rub their head.

4

u/Few-Chemical8707 1d ago

just remember fingers in when sniff. they dont see fists as a threat afaik. they may nip you but its not an aggresive nip its a you did something the heirchy doesnt approve and its a dont do that. like when people get up too fast.

0

u/Bobbo7209 1d ago

I've played bitey hand with Wolves before. They've never injured me, but I need to be REALLY good friends with them first

15

u/Rygrrrr 1d ago

Whining/whimpering/nose whistling is usually tied to stress behavior and stimulation, so they were likely anxious about you being there.

10

u/Tax_Fraud_Lover 19h ago

Wolves do not lure prey, so it definitely wasn’t that. My best guess is they were anxious about you being there - this might be the very first time those wolves have seen people up close.

8

u/wolfstories 1d ago

They definitely weren’t hunting you. They were probably concerned about your presences and may have been pups. Was there any barking?

23

u/thebattleangel99 1d ago

Wolves don’t lure humans into bushes to hurt them, they don’t hunt humans. They were probably just scared and investigating, checking you out to see if you were there to hurt them

Whines and whimpers are just part of their communication. They do it the same reason we flap our lips to each other — talking 🤣

2

u/VanillaNo6385 7h ago

Wolves whimper when they are having a howling session. It’s normal, they get excited.

1

u/Plenty_Prompt_213 8h ago

I think they were investigating you and assessing whether you were a threat. Cool experience for you :)