Wolf socialization: A study of temperament in a wild social species

Abstract

A detailed analysis was made of the process by which the wolf comes from a state of unfamiliarity and fear of humans to a state of familiarity and friendliness. The nature of the process was found to depend on the age of the animal as well as the technique employed by the experimenter. Although young cubs were found to respond positively to almost any form of human contact, the older cubs and juveniles required much more time and effort to socialize, and fully matured adults offered very special problems which required specialized techniques to overcome. Periods beyond which no socialization could occur were not found. Wolves socialized as cubs had to be reinforced repeatedly in order to maintain their social bond with humans; however, adult wolves retained their socialized behavior even after being left with unsocialized animals and not handled for 18-22 months. Wolves socialized with the aid of tranquilizing drugs (chlorpromazine, librium, and reserpine) did not retain their socialization when the drugs were withdrawn on a variety of schedules. The development of fear responses as the animals grow older, and the association of fear with the unfamiliar, closely parallel the increasing difficulty of acquiring socialized behavior as well as the decreasing difficulty of retaining that behavior once it is acquired. Socialization is viewed as a conditioning process which must take place after the development and in the presence of the free expression of the subjective components of fear, a separable aspect of the general phenomenon of genetic wildness. © 1967 American Society of Zoologists.