11-19-96
The following information was provided by Yellowstone National Park. I have rewritten part and elaborated on it.
To best understand it, readers may want to review my updates of Oct. 6, 14, and 31.
LONE STAIR PAIR
Male 35M, who lost his mate last April to a hot spring, still remains with female 30F, a 1 1/2 year old released from the Nez Perce Pack last April. They remain still in the very remote Thorofare Country near the SE corner of the Park. Will there be pups come spring?WOLVES RELEASED AS THE NEZ PERCE PACK LAST APRIL
Male no. 28M, the former Nez Perce alpha (while they were still in British Columbia), was lost track of about a month ago when he ventured west of Earthquake Lake. That is quite a way west of Yellowstone Park. Recently, he was found about 10 to 15 miles west of the northwest corner of Yellowstone Park on the Gallatin National Forest in the Madison Range.
Female no. 37F and male no. 29M remain in the Rose Creek pen with the ten pups rescued from NW Montana when the adults in their Sawtooth Pack were all dispatched. Plans are to hold all 12 wolves under early next spring.
Female no. 27F and her three surviving pups are still on the Beartooth Front near Dean, Montana (on the northern edge of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem). They have not killed livestock since last summer, and plans to recapture them are in abeyance. For pluck, this female has got to "take the cake" for Yellowstone wolves, in my opinion. She tried to attack the helicopter when her pack was captured in British Columbia.
Female number 26F remains paired with male number 15M, formerly of the Soda Butte Pack, (see more below).SODA BUTTE PACK
After their release from the Trail Creek enclosure in October, they migrated to an area in the backcountry between Yellowstone Lake and Heart Lake. They remain in this area.LEOPOLD PACK
As has been the case for a year now, this pack (first wolf pack to form naturally since the reintroduction) was located on the Blacktail Deer Plateau in the northern part of Yellowstone Park.CHIEF JOSEPH PACK (now just a pair)
Since the release of this 4 member pack, they have wandered around the west side of the Park and more westerly still on the Gallatin National Forest. The alpha female was hit and killed by a semi-truck last summer, and no. 31M recently joined the distant Druid Peak Pack. The male/female pair 33F and 34M were most recently located in the western part of the Park near Lower Geyser Basin.ROSE CREEK PACK
The Park's largest pack remains in the area of the Lamar Valley -- the alpha pair no. 9F and 8M, the six yearlings, and the 3 pups.CRYSTAL CREEK PACK (Now just a pair)
The two remaining members were located in the general area of the Lamar Valley -- the usual case.DRUID PEAK PACK
Although presumed alpha female, no. 39F, dispersed from the pack this summer, but the pack is back up to five members. No. 31M, the Chief Joseph yearling mention above now seems to have joined the pack. I have had reports that no. 31 is showing signs of bonding with one of the female pack members (another possible dispersion, or a new alpha pair?). In October I received a number of eye-witness accounts that one of the pack's males appeared to be injured. Apparently the wound, whatever the cause, has healed.LONE WOLF NO. 39F
After leaving the Druid Peak Pack, this unique (white) wolf headed north, like so many of the wolves so far, to explore the Beartooth Front Area. She ranged east from near Red Lodge, Montana; west to near Livingston, Montana; and then southeast into the rugged Absaroka Range of Montana north of Yellowstone Park. In a big surprise to me, she was located most recently about 50 miles NE of Livingston, 25 miles north of Big Timber, Montana, near Melville, MT. This is outside of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, on the east slope of the Crazy Mountains. This means she crossed Interstate 90, the Yellowstone River, and 40 miles of high plains, coulees, and agricultural country.UNNAMED PAIR NO. 15M AND 26F
These wolves paired after no. 15 was released in September from the Nez Perce Pen along with pup no. 47M, which was soon killed by a vehicle. No. 26 was nearby, the pair bonded and roamed around the central part of Yellowstone for a while. They were more recently located considerably south of the Park on the Bridger-Teton National Forest. A good question is whether they will follow the huge Jackson Hole elk herd to its wintering grounds on the National Elk Refuge. Perhaps this spring, will they produce Jackson Hole's first wolf pack?
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Copyright © 1996 Ralph Maughan
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