A wolf’s howl is one of those unforgettable sounds of nature. Now, this iconic sound is setting a new chapter for wolf conservation, fitting hand-in-hand with monitoring technology.
To make sense of what wolf howls mean for an ecosystem, The Colossal Foundation (the non-profit arm of Colossal Biosciences, which recently made headlines for its dire wolf de-extinction project) has announced a partnership with non-profit Yellowstone Forever and the Yellowstone Wolf Project. The collaboration aims to strengthen wolf conservation efforts, using cameras to monitor acoustic (audio) data and AI algorithms to classify howls.
The Meanings Behind Wolf Sounds
Wolves speak to each other with their own canine code that features an assortment of sounds: growls, barks, whines, and other vocalizations can express how a wolf is feeling, whether they’re sensing danger or bonding with their pack. The howl, however, reigns as the most important sound for research.
Howling by wolves conveys vital messages that symbolize the solidarity of a pack. Multiple howls often combine to form chorus howls, which grow increasingly complex as more individuals join in concert. These sounds can be heard over five miles away, and they hold more than one meaning; Some howls are meant to check on pack members, while others cast territorial warnings to intruders.
Read More: Dire Wolf De-Extinction Breeds Both Hope and Uncertainty
A New Angle on Wolf Conservation
Howling is like music to conservationists’ ears. This especially rings true at Yellowstone National Park, a bastion for wolf conservation ever since the animals began to bounce back across the West in the 1990s. Howls are a crucial part of Yellowstone’s natural soundscape, gauging local ecosystem health.
But with howls happening so often, keeping up with them is rigorous work for researchers. Up until now, gathering data from wolves has largely required invasive measures like collaring, when a wolf is anesthetized and fitted with a collar that tracks location data.
The partnership announced by The Colossal Foundation promises to imbue new life into wolf conservation with the help of artificial intelligence.
The foundation’s support of the Yellowstone Wolf Project — an enduring study that has been going strong since wolves were reintroduced to the park in 1995 — will allow 25 camera units to be deployed near wolf denning sites. The camera technology, called GrizCam (developed by Montana-based Grizzly Systems Inc.), is designed to record 360-degree video footage along with audio data.
Understanding Howls with AI
Matt James, the Chief Animal Officer at Colossal, says that the value of these cameras comes from the context they provide. For example, a camera can pick up the audio of a howl, and minutes later, it may also record the wolf that howled walking by. This will help researchers understand what direction howls come from and how they’re linked to pack behavior.
Real-time monitoring will also give conservationists an opportunity to respond to immediate problems for packs. The cameras can also capture audio of gunshots and tell where they came from, aiding enforcement of wildlife protections at the park.
“If we have a sudden change in the landscape, whether a disease came in or a new pack comes in, and it starts to change the territory of our animals or change the population density of our species of interest, then we have real-time capabilities to respond to those things,” says James.
The recordings collected by the cameras will then be fed to a team at Colossal that has created a machine-learning algorithm to review massive swaths of acoustic data. The AI models will classify howls, informing the team on key census details regarding pack size and identity.
James says that the classifier tool, developed in just two weeks, showed a 92 percent accuracy rate. The tool will continue to be optimized as it receives more data, and James says it will eventually be available for conservationists to use on their own projects.
A Cornerstone of Biodiversity
Wolves in Yellowstone
(Image Courtesy of Christopher Klee (Colossal Biosciences))
While data collection for this project will continue throughout the year, Colossal is also working to introduce this technology beyond Yellowstone; they’ve committed to establishing a pilot network of GrizCam units on tribal lands across Idaho associated with the Nez Perce Tribe.
James believes that wolf conservation hinges on demystifying the animals and tearing down negative assumptions about them. While wolves have been branded as villains in the past, in reality, they play an essential role in ecosystems. When wolves went absent from Yellowstone for much of the 20th century, the ecological web was thrown out of order.
“We saw an overabundance of elk, an overgrazing of willow, we saw the rivers changed, we lost beavers,” says James. “They [wolves] are an apex predator, but they’re also a keystone species that have these cascading effects through an ecosystem. Without them, we lose biodiversity.”
Read More: Wolves Keep the U.S. Ecosystem in Check
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Jack Knudson is an assistant editor at Discover with a strong interest in environmental science and history. Before joining Discover in 2023, he studied journalism at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and previously interned at Recycling Today magazine.
