Canine Behavior/body language

[Shunké]

So I’m doing a small course on animal behavior and body language, and it seems that this would also greatly benefit fellow rp’ers. Not only is communicating verbally important in rping, but body language is just as important. It gives readers and the opposing character a view on the emotion of your character.

• Posture
  
• Ear set
  
• Eye gaze
  
• tail set
  
• Piloerection (hair standing on end)
  
• facial expression (ie: lips, eyes narrow/wide, ect.)

Now moving onto nonverbal emotions:

Stress:
*yawning
*sweaty paws
*licking lips
*shaking/trembling
*panting
*sniffing
*drooling
*needs repeated commands (telling twice)
*listless tail
*self mutilation (pulling out fur, excessive licking)

Disintrest/bordem (mostly self explanatory, but it was in my notes)
*no eye contact
*trying to leave/turns away
*sniffing
*yawning

Bordem
*chewing
*barking
*digging
*self mutilation/licking
*whining
*pacing

Intrest
*ears alert and moving
*forward posture
*face alert
*sometimes a bark or two

Submissive (usually reserved for those in the lower ranks)
*ears back
*tail tight or under belly
*whining
*crouching low to the ground
*avoid eye contact
*rolling over/showing belly

Dominance (usually reserved for higher ranks, such as the Alphas/Betas, and the Balkar)
*forward erect posture (ears and tail included)
* “tight” lips and muscles
*Hackles erect from shoulders to hips/tail base
*fixed stare
*growling


Fear
*dilated pupils
*Tight face
*Licking lips
*Volley of barks (several hesitant barks, shaky barks/vocals)
*ears back
*Panting
*Hackles erect up the back (hair standing on back)
*tail tight against butt/curled under belly

Aggression
*Hackles from shoulders and hips/tail base
*nothing about your character is relaxed (tense/rigid body)
*erect, forward posture (erect tail and ears)
*growling- deep belly growl
*direct, fixed stare
*tight mouth (lips curled)

Now, there are a couple types of aggression, but I’m going to try and break it down as simply as possible.
Now usually a cainine will show either aggressive or threatening behavior. Sometimes even threatening behavior before aggressive behavior.

Threatning behavior:
Usually, the goal is to “warn” the other character, and the goal is not to harm him/her. Some ways to show threats, combined with the body language “fear” listed above.
*bark
*lunge
* “Air-snap”
*short growls
*charge/chase

To understand aggression, you must understand what types of situations would provoke the aggression in your character (other than the simple fact of not liking the other character):

• Dominance aggression
  
• Fear induced aggression
  
• Territorial aggression
  
• Pain induced aggression
  
• Maternal (pregnant, cubs around)

Aggressive behavior:
This harms the opponent, and is demonstrated depending on what provoked your character. If he is afraid, he wouldn’t full out attack the opponent, but instead take one good bite. Usually called “fear biters”, and sometimes can be the most dangerous, along side a canine that is in pain.
In pain induced aggression, usually the canine will attack anything that comes in contact with him in a very unorganized way.
Maternal aggression is present in mothers who are pregnant, or who have cubs. Sometimes fathers can have maternal instincts as well, and protect his offspring from predators.
Territorial is the most common, usually a canine will become very aggressive if his home is invaded, or if he feels that it is threatened. To avoid this, or most sever territorial aggression while rping on a “The Sight” rp site, let your character give a howl letting others know that he is present, and is “requesting permission” to enter the opponent’s territory. This is called “Tratto’s Blessing”, or “Larka’s Blessing”.

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Now, a few other tidbits I decided to add. Just simple facts, that should help you out.

*Wolves howl for several reasons. To let other know where they are, to call to a family member, to mourn a loss, or even ask for “Tratto’s Blessing”.

*No canine cries, however their eyes do water due to an allergy, or dry/itchy eyes. There are also several other medical explanations, but none directly related to emotion.

*Canines do sweat, through their nose, tongue, and paw pads only.

Any questions? Concerns? Feel free to ask me.

[Tarmalo]

^{(((ok so i'm gonna be adding some more to shunke's stuff. If anything is wrong please let me know and i will change it)))}

The Grey wolf has several names and is classified in many forms. Grey Wolf, Timber Wolf or just “wolf.”

Some popular wolves around the Transylvania area are the Russian Wolf, Euasia Wolf, Tundra Wolf, and sometimes (rarely but if migrate) Caspian Sea wolf and Sothern East-Asian Wolf.


The Grey Wolf stands at about 38 inches from the shoulder in height. The Grey Wolf can weigh up to 135 pounds but females tend to be 20% less in weight when compared to males.

Wolves are built for stamina and are capable of running for a long time at a lope of about 6 MPH (3.73 KPH). During hunts woves run at about 45 MPH (27.96KPH), wolves when running are capable of covering up to 16 ft (4.8 meters) per bound.

The Grey Wolf’s fur coloration varies from grey/grey brown to white, red, brown, and black. As wolves age they acquire a grayish tint.Wolves have bulky coats consisting of two layers. The first layer is made up of tough guard hairs designed to repel water and dirt. The second is a dense, water resistant undercoat that insulates. They usually shed their coat in late spring to early summer (with yearly variations.) It comes out in large tufts that are usually shaken loose by rocks, branches, undergrowth and so forth. The under coat is grey no matter what color the outer coat is. Wolf pups have dark fur and blue eyes until the pups reach eight to sixteen weeks of age.

Packs can only support one litter per year. The female wolf goes into heat only once per year, between January and April. Once the female is in heat she will only be in heat for about five to fourteen days, gestation period lasts about sixty to sixty three days. Pups are blind and deaf.

A litter of pups can be from one to fourteen pups, with the average litter size being four to six. Pups begin regurgitating from their mother or another pack member after about the first two weeks (when they get their milk teeth.) Pups are fully weaned at ten weeks of age and are sexually maturity at two to three years of age.

Despite the similarities between wolf and dog there are differences, for one, the wolf’s brain size is 20 % larger than the dog. Wolves also have a better immune system, better sense of smell, and are larger than dogs. Wolves can also bite up to 1450 lbs per square inch.

Wolves encounter other animals besides their prey, when wolves encounter other predators it’s called an interspecific predatory relationship. Coyotes are a good example of this; coyotes may be a relative of the wolf but they are seen as a competitor and treated with hostility. The Cougar is another predator encountered by the grey wolf. If given the opportunity wolves will cougar kittens; packs also take advantage of cougar's by stealing kills and sometimes killing the cougar afterward. Brown bears are the only competitor wolves encounter in both North America and Eurasia.

There are many species of wolf but there are also extinct and endangered species such as the Hokkaido Wolf and Honshu Wolf in Japanand the Dire wolf once in south america became extinct due to over hunting, poisoning, traps and so forth. The endangered list of wolves is ever growing due to over hunting, trapping, poisoning, mass killings, and if humans fail to intervene more wolves will be on the extinction list, some these wolves include the Arabian Wolf, the Caspian Wolf, the Italian Wolf, the Eastern Timber Wolf, the Egyptian Wolf, the Mexican Wolf, and the Himalayan Wolf.

Howling serves as a declaration of territory. Large packs readily draw attention to themselves, adjacent packs sometimes respond to each others pack calls. Wolves howl with great care and content. Wolves howl not only for pack declaration but howl to communicate with each other inside the pack, this strengthens social bonds and helps keep the pack together. Wolves howl at different tones, and varying pitches, this makes it difficult to guess the amount of wolves in a pack. Wolf howls can be heard up to ten miles away.

Wolves like all canines, use scent marking to lay claim to anything. Alpha wolves scent mark the most, the alpha male and female urinate with the raised leg stance while everyone else on the pack squats while urinating; this is used to enforce pack rank and dominance. Another type of scent marking is scent rolling, wolves usually scent roll to bring a certain type of smell to the pack. Defecation (pooping) marking is used the same way as urine markings but it serves mostly as a visual warning to other wolves to let them know that a certain pack occupies that area. Defecation markers are also navigational markers, guiding lost wolves (if that actually happens) back to their home.

Wolves have scent glands all over their body, including at the base of the tail, between their toes, eyes, and genitalia to name a few. For example, a dominant wolf (most likely Alpha) will rub its body against a subordinate to mark that wolf as a member of their pack. Wolves can detect virtually any scent, including marks from great distances and can distinguish among them better than humans can visually recognize other humans.

In the social hierarchy of a wolf pack, the alpha male and female are the bosses. The alpha’s affect all activity in the pack to some extent. Second to the alpha’s are the betas, they are “second in command” and play the important role in helping with the upbringing of the pups. Beta wolves are most likely to challenge their superiors and take the role of alpha, although some betas are content with being second. Loss of rank can be sudden or can gradually change over a period of time, an older wolf may simply choose to give its rank away or it can choose to go down in a bloody massacre and fight for all their worth.

There is usually only one omega (sikla) wolf in a pack but that’s not to say that there can’t be two. The omega wolf receives the most aggression, and can be constantly harassed by other pack members. Omega wolves however have been observed as one of the most playful members of the pack, often instigating playfulness to other members of the pack. In short omega wolves exist to help relieve pack tension. Omegas are the funny, laughable punching bags of the pack.

Surplus killing is defined as the killing of several prey animals to numerous to eat at one sitting. During a surplus killing, a predators killing instinct is continually sparked off by stimuli, there is just so many prey, so many that it can’t stop killing. An instance of surplus killing by wolves was witnessed in Canada’s Northwest Territories by researchers coming across thirty-four neonatal (newborn) caribou calves scattered over three square kilometers.

Close proximity to humans may also cause habituation; wolves lose their fear of humans and consequently approach too close. Habituation usually happens when a human encourages a wolf to come up to them, usually by offering them food or when a human fails to appropriately intimidate a wolf. Wolves despite their looks and capabilities, very rarely attack humans. The leading cause of wolf attacks is mostly due to habitat loss. Habitat loss causes the wolf’s natural prey to diminish and thus causes the local wolves turn to attacking livestock and on rare occasions, even humans.

Some wolves or packs can specialize in hunting livestock, however once the behavior is learned, despite natural prey abundance, will continue. Sheep are the most vulnerable to wolf attacks but horses and cattle are at risk too. Wolves also been known to commit acts of surplus killing when within the confines of human made livestock shelters.