Wolf Body language

[frostedviolets]

What do you make of it?!

Really interested to hear people’s opinions.

Do you think it was territorial aggression, predatory behaviour, play etc?

I’ve watched it a few times and my initial thoughts were curiosity then play that was either too rough or veered off into predatory interest.

The initial approach didn’t look all that tense to me, eg, I didn’t see the immediate tense tail raising, hackles etc

They appear to freeze and do what to my eye looks a little like a play bow before chasing and appear to be nipping at the dog’s tail.

What do you think?

m.youtube.com/watch?v=7ifi4TU6cvk

The dog was lucky to get away, sooner or later the wolves would have attacked it I think.
From the dogs body language I can see it's feeling threatened.
From the wolves body language I'm not sure if they are just playing/curious, but the stressed out dog obviously thinks otherwise and that could have lead to its death as the wolves instinct takes over.

It would have been interesting to see a single wolf and a single dog and their responses.

Check out the lovely (but ultimately sad - though not through anything the wolf did!) story of Romeo, the Juneau wolf.

Now this is play behaviour.

Adding this just because I love the image.

It's a great image. The black colour in wild wolves comes from (escaped) domestic dogs breeding back into the population.

When I see one, it makes me wonder how much temperament has also crossed over in that breeding...

That dog was very lucky, agree with @Shambolical1. The way they spread out to chase is very predatory. If they were playing I don't think they would have done that. The one that nips the dog also seems to be in the middle for most of the chase, with the other 2 on the side. Think probably the oldest, highest in pack.