Number 17 was died recently when she impaled herself on a branch while chasing prey in Fawn Creek.Number 17, and her sister 16, were both the daughters of the Rose Creek alpha female no. 9 and the late (but great) wolf R10M. Last winter both females mated with R34M of the Chief Joseph Pack. Nos. 16 and 17 then denned close together near Gardiner, Montana. This location I only recently learned. Both females whelped five pups.
After no. 17's death no. 34, no. 17's pups, no. 16 and her pups all joined together. Now, suddenly, the Chief Joseph Pack has gone from a pack on the margins of existence as a pack, to a pack with twelve members!
Right now they are inhabiting the NW corner of the Park -- the stream bottoms and heights of the Gallatin mountain range.
Let me give a little background on this. The wolves in the Chief Joseph Pack were brought from British Columbia in 1996 and placed in the Crystal Creek acclimation enclosure.
There four wolves -- three from the B.C. Kravac Pack (31M, 32F, and 33F) and one from the Musquaw Pack (no. 34M). These four were released in March 1996 from the Nez Perce, rather than from the Crystal Creek enclosure. This was to avoid conflict with the Rose Creek, Crystal Creek, and Druid Peak packs that already were competing for territory around the Crystal Creek enclosure.
After release the pack, although never very cohesive, generally inhabited the northwest corner of Yellowstone, a place that other Park wolves had not occupied.
During the summer of 1996, no. 32F, who had become the alpha female, was hit by a semi-truck on the U.S. 191 speedway that goes through a sliver of Yellowstone's NW corner.This death seemed to pretty much destroy the pack. No. 33 generally became a lone wolf. No. 31M traveled to the NE corner of the park and joined the aggressive Druids. No. 34M traveled there also, but became involved with Rose Creek no. 16 and 17, who soon dispersed from the Rose Creek Pack. This is how the Chief Joseph Pack went from one* to twelve in a half year's time.
*Technically speaking, I'd say the Chief Joseph Pack disappeared because there were only two members left -- no. 33F and no. 34M -- and they traveled together only occasionally.