How Badly Do Wolves Fight?

[DarkShadow4Life]

An odd question... Do wolves fight to the death, or do they try to avoid being severely injured?

[Isela]

It depends on the situation. If a rival wolf intrudes into another pack's territory, the pack is most likely to chase and attack the intruder, some cases ending in the death of the intruder. It's also not uncommon for a rival pack to intrude into another pack's territory, where severe fights can break out and potentially lead to the death(s) of some wolves. It's also been witnessed of inter-pack conflict, where a pack member was ganged up on by the other members of the pack. One example of this is 40F (her tracking number), a past dominant female of the Druid Peak pack, and her sister 42F (nicknamed Cinderella), who took 40F's place as dominant female after 42F and other members of the pack attacked her. 40F used 42F and another sister of their's as a punching bag, and so it seems 42F and other members of the pack had enough. 40F was found by Doug Smith--Wolf Project leader in Yellowstone--dying on the side of the road.

For pack hierarchy, full-blown fights are typically avoided through what is called dominance rituals, where a single wolf is "mobbed" by the other pack members (but results in little to no injury). These rituals are a way to recognize where each wolf lies in the pack ranking, and are used to prevent serious fights from breaking out. However, this hierarchy behavior/ranking is seen more in captive wolves than wild wolves.

tl;dr; It depends on the situation, and how serious the conflict gets. Generally, wolves try to avoid injury if they can,
since injury can be detrimental to their survival in the wild.