Since the beginning, the main focus of our work in the Lobo Park has been the research of the social behaviour of wolves.
This topic has been treated either with very little attention or to a certain extent very amateurish. The fact is that it is very difficult to observe wolves in the wild which over time leads to the consequence that most studies on wolves and their behaviourisms are done with wolves in captivity.The way wolves have been and are still being kept in captivity de-socializes the animal to a great extent. All well-known ethnologists went too far in the method where they keep the animals and “domesticate” them more than it would have been good for research and for the animals. The “domesticated” wolf shows his natural behaviour in a very fragmented way, making it completely absurd to even study these animals. This is similar to doing research on patients in a closed department of a psychiatric institution. The obtained findings are hardly useful for a transfer to the whole of humanity.
The wolves in Lobo Park are to a extent being hand reared to take away the innate shyness they instinctively feel towards people. However, we never interfere with their natural behaviour. The enclosures are very spacious (25.000m² – 35.000m² each) to ensure enough privacy for them. The animals demonstrate no stress behaviour and no human will interfere falsely or be dominant with these animals. This form of socialisation enables us to uncover very interesting insights and findings on the real social behaviour of these wonderful animals.
Since several years, we allow scientists biologists, zoologists and ethnologists to optimize their research and use our park for observation and more in depth research work. Various projects have been done in the past years involving students from all over the world who come to the Lobo Park for their studies.
Besides the support that is given to students, the park is also working closely with other wolf protection associations and government related authorities (e.g. Junta de Andalucía and others) to support or provide assistance.