You've got an 80 percent chance of hearing wolves howl in Algonquin Provincial Park on Thursday nights in August. That's when park naturalists attempt to elicit a cry from the wilderness. The event starts at the Outdoor Theatre with an illustrated

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You've got an 80 percent chance of hearing wolves howl in Algonquin Provincial Park on Thursday nights in August. That's when park naturalists attempt to elicit a cry from the wilderness. The event starts at the Outdoor Theatre with an illustrated talk on wolves and the development of wolf howling. In an effort to locate and census wolves in the park, researchers discovered decades ago that the pack animals will answer not only to recordings of howls, but also to human imitations. The event, held since 1963, now attract more than 2,000 people. After the talk, visitors are directed in their cars to a "rendezvous site" on Highway 60. The directing of up to 600 cars—forming a 20-kilometer-long line—is a mammoth operation executed by 20 trained staff members using radios, safety vests, and special flashlights. When at last the long line of cars has rolled to a stop and everyone has gotten quietly out, and all are standing utterly silent, a naturalist belts out a loud, sustained, high-pitched noise. With success, wolf pups usually respond first, yipping and yapping before an adult lets loose, piercing the night with a howl that'll raise the hair on the back of your neck.

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