Here is the latest information on the Yellowstone wolves, courtesy of Doug Smith, Yellowstone wolf team leader.
The wolf-trapping, and radio-collaring operations have resumed, so most of the information in this report is derived from the results of the radio-collaring.
Crystal Creek Pack-
The Crystal Creek Pack has just been captured, and the alpha pair, no. R5F and R6M, was recollared. Three of the pups born in the spring of 1997 were also collared and examined for the first time.Folks will recall that the Crystal Creek pack's "glory days" were 1995 as one of the first three packs released into wolfless Yellowstone. They were very visible as they killed prey, chased and killed coyotes and interacted with grizzly bears. However, no pups were observed and by the early summer of 1996 the pack had been diminished by dispersals, and then it was driven from the Lamar by the new Druid Peak Pack after the Druids killed the original alpha male. They may have also injured no. 5, the alpha female, and destroyed her litter of pups. Number 5F and the sole remaining member of the pack, no. 6M, moved south to the Pelican Valley and lived quietly through the rest of 1996 and early 1997. However, they had a litter of six pups in 1997.
Early February attempt to capture the revived pack were put on hold when the pack migrated eastward out of the Park into the North Absaroka Wilderness where aircraft are not allowed. March, however, brought the pack back to the Pelican.
Upon capture yesterday, the alpha male, no. 6M, weighed 141 pounds! However, he had just eaten. This quite a change from the 90 pound pup brought from Alberta in 1995. Smith gave me the weights of two of the Crystal Creek pups born in the Spring of 1997. A male pup weighed 115 pounds! He had eaten two days earlier. A female pup weighed 99 pounds.
The Chief Joseph Pack-
There still has been no success capturing this pack. In the February attempt to capture them, the wolves ran into dense timber and didn't come out. In March attempts so far, they have moved into inaccessible terrain. There are still a few more days left before radio-collaring for the year must shut down.No. 16F-
Number 16 was captured and re-collared near Gardiner, Montana yesterday. Smith indicated that 16's injured hindquarters have completely healed. She was injured by a vehicle collision on the US 191 speedway last summer. Her injury however, indirectly cost her three of her five pups. There are two surviving pups near her. One pup has a radio collar, but it appears to deliberately remain on the other side of the Yellowstone River from her.Good news for the orphaned Thorofare Pups-
Having lost both of their powerful parents due to natural causes in February and then apparently being driven from the Thorofare into the deep snow of the rugged
Washakie Wilderness to the SE of Yellowstone, things looked bleak for these pups. However, they have made their way over the precipitous Glacier Basin/Chaos Mountain area down into the Elk Fork, a long wilderness drainage that is a tributary of the North Fork of the Shoshone River. The lower portions of the drainage are winter range, and the pups have successfully killed both an elk cow and elk calf.Soda Butte Pack-
Having eliminated their competition, the Soda Butte still remains in their historic range -- Heart Lake and the southern and southeastern shore of Yellowstone Lake.Washakie Pack-
For the first time the Washakie Pack has crossed south of U.S. Highway 26 -- the highway from Dubois, westward up over Togwotee Pass and into Jackson Hole. The pack has not moved far, however, They are just a bit southwest of the DuNoir. The wolf team will attempt to capture and radio-collar the pack this week.Pair 41F and 52M-
This new pair was located in Sunlight Basin to the east of Yellowstone. Folks may remember that no. 41 has been a member of the Druid Peak Pack (she was brought from British Columbia). No. 52M is one of famous Rose Creek number 9's pups -- part of her second Yellowstone litter (1996). Will 1998 bring a "Sunlight Basin Pack?"Observations of the Druids and Rose Creek Pack-
Here are some recent observations (field notes) by Jim Halfpenny and Diann Thompson of A Naturalist's World. I find them very interesting for a number of reasons: 1. the elk killed this year are healthy elk; 2: the coyotes have not disappeared; 3: a number of the wolves have distinctive markings; 4. wolf watchers do displace the wolves from kills; 5. wolves do sometimes eat mice and similar small rodents; 6. the grizzlies are coming out.
"Just back from six days of field classes in Lamar. Wolf viewing was excellent with several key observations explained below.
The Druid pack has been the most visible but, in general, wolves have been less visible this winter than in the past. Often they have been on the ridge tops and scarcely more than large moving dots.
We have observed Rose Creek pack only on three days. Since the first of January, we have seen or heard wolves 80% of the days we have looked for them. Of the days we actually observed the wolves, 58% of the observations were in the morning and 50% in the evening (note this does not add to 100%, because some days wolves were observed on both morning and evenings).
On Feb. 8, 41F was with a pup south of Soda Butte. On Feb 9, 41F was on the north side of the road and the rest of the pack on the south side. 41F was 100 yards from us, the pack about 3/8 mile. They were constantly howling back and forth. On Feb 10, we tracked 41F and one student observed blood in a urine mark (estrus? - Diann and I did not see this part of the trail).
Then 41F disappeared. She was not observed from the ground or the air until March 13 (approximate date) when the airplane crew detected her with 52M near Cody (my note: they were last observed in Sunlight Basin -- Ralph Maughan).
On February 12, we observed 7 Rose Creek wolves on a kill they made south of "wolf observation hill" in the Lamar. The kill was observed by others at he close of the day. As we watched, 9F and 8M slept about 100 yards above the hill. Four other wolves were sleeping near by. A pup tried to approach the kill from below. There was a single coyote on the kill. The coyote charged the pup and drove it back down the hill. This happened twice. The other wolves never appeared to awaken or pay attention to the pup. Eventually the coyote moved off and other wolves besides the pup initially came to the carcass.
March 16, 18:40 at the parking lot just west of Lamar picnic area, we came across Druid pack as they got up for the evening. We watched for 35 minutes until it was too dark to see them any more. The moved 1/4 mile west and then back east out of sight. During that time, they put on an incredible display of social interactions including puppy play, nuzzling, rolling around in large masses of wolves making snow angels, etc. -- a celebration of childhood or puppyhood.
March 18, 06:40, we found Druid pack out on Round Prairie. They had made two kills, both cows. We went in with the wolf intensive study team and necropsied one cow. The kill was very healthy, probably about 12 years old judge from tooth wear on the lower jaw. Her injuries were minor except for a golf-ball size tear in her wind pipe. The kills were probably made just before daylight, as have been several other recent kills.
The Druids killed one elk each on Friday and Sunday early mornings. That is four known kills in six days or a kill rate of every 1.5 day (four known kills, since it is possible that when they were out of sight on March 17, they made another kill). However, all kills were near the road and the wolves were not able to spend extend periods of time feeding on the kills. On the first two kills, the wolves would have had to feed during the night. On the most recent two, they hardly had a chance before the cadre of wolf watchers arrived. They really ate nothing. Perhaps they came back last night.
This observation gave us the opportunity to closely studied each animal for extended periods of time - noting color and marking patterns.
Druid female no. 42F has really become quite gray with raccoon eyes (white face with dark hair around eyes). Here tail appears kinked and lacks hair at the base.
The black pups have a lot of gray in them. 21M (the new alpha male) has distinct white facial markings. Pup 104M is big!
Several members of the Druid Pack actively moused out on the Prairie. They were doing the typical coyote-pouncing maneuver and successfully got mice or voles. We watched them play with and eat the rodents.
We necropsied what was left of the Friday kill (at one point ten coyotes were feeding on it). That cow was also healthy. The wolf team had already picked up the skull and they said it was an old animal.
The elk being killed this year are much more healthy than last year. The winter has been mild although the snow is still deep and dense. There have been five warm days increasing density to 30 to 35%. Now it is again cold and the snow has a hard crust, plus being dense. This will be hard on the elk.
March 16, grizzly on carcass with the Rose Creek pack -- observed from the air by the wolf team. They also saw a grizzly about 3 days earlier down by Heart Lake."
- - Jim
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