Scientists are using wolves' howls as database to estimate population

Scientists say the database of wolves' howls can be used to study many other things including how human language evolved

At 5 am on a not-so-cold January morning this year, Bilal Habib, a scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India, parked his jeep near a watch tower in the Nannaj grasslands, east of Mumbai. He and four others of his team climbed the tower. There, Habib took out a portable speaker and a recorder from his bag. He played a pre-recorded howl of a wolf for 30 seconds, and waited for a minute for wolves that might be around to respond. There was no response. He played the howl again. No response. He played it a third time. A wolf