HOW TO WIN MATES AND AVOID WOLVES: LESSONS FROM #302M

(from the Yellowstone Park 2003 annual wolf report)

From the moment the first individual wolves stepped freely onto Yellowstone’s wild landscape, they’ve taught us valuable lessons on ecology,
behavior, and politics. Some wolves more than others, however, have been particularly fascinating in this regard and, in a way, keystone to our increasing understanding of wolves as a species. These individuals have been unique, not because they exhibit superior canid qualities, but because we’ve been able to observe them regularly and see their life’s story unfold. In December of 1997, when a young dispersing male from the Rose Creek pack entered the Lamar Valley, home of the recently fractured Druid Peak pack absent a breeding male, Wolf Project researchers and one filmmaker observed a multi-hour event that showcased a series of behavioral interactions foundational to the population dynamics of wolves. Wolf #21M and members of the Druid Peak pack displayed a ritualized song and dance that ultimately resulted in #21M becoming the breeding male of the pack. Previously unobserved in the wild, this interaction revealed patterned social behavior seemingly essential to pair formation and reproductive success, and defined for researchers the rules of engagement for dispersing individuals.

In 2003, the northern range of Yellowstone was home to over twice as many packs as in 1997, the result of budding and splitting of individuals and groups from established packs, many of which have repeated the same behavioral sequence that #21M and the Druid females performed in 1997. Dispersing individuals in more recent years have faced challenges that wolves like #21M didn’t face in their dispersal events, namely increased competition for territories and mates as influenced by significantly higher wolf densities. With these changing social conditions, individuals such as #302M have revealed other strategies of reproduction and dispersal, and how to survive in a wolf-rich landscape.

For us, the story of #302M began during the breeding season of 2003, when several maturing Druid females were seemingly drawn away from their natal pack and engaged in temporary liaisons with a pair of brothers whose identity and origins were at first unknown. On January 17, the uncollared but distinguishable Druid females U-black and Half-black were first seen engaged in a playful encounter with two uncollared black males who had boldly entered Lamar Valley. The territorial invasion did not go unnoticed by #21M, who despite many efforts to thwart the young suitors’ persuasive advances on his daughters, was never successful in stopping courtship behavior. The intense chasing and physical attacks that #302M received from #21M and other Druid pack members over the next several days did not deter his hormone-driven commitment to winning mates, despite the obvious peril of such endeavors, as observed by his blood-stained hind quarter following one such attack.

At the time of these first encounters, #302M was an unknown male who had mysteriously appeared with another male. Even with the successful helicopter darting and radio collaring of this rogue duo in the heart of Druid territory on February 12, we knew little more about their origins. For the remainder of the 2003 breeding season, #302M and presumed brother #301M formed an ephemeral association with Druid females #255F, U-black, and Half-black, and was seen breeding with two of the three (#255F and U-black). Throughout this time, #302M continued to avoid what very well could have been fatal encounters with the other Druid pack members, despite his risky behavior of scavenging from their kills, shadowing their movements, and breeding with their females.

After the breeding season, #302M, #301M, and their Druid females, seemingly on track to form a new pack, disbanded after two consecutive days of aggressive interactions with both the Geode and Slough Creek packs, which resulted in #302M’s group being run out of the area.

The Druid females, two of which presumably were pregnant with #302M’s offspring (#255F and U-black), returned to their pack, likely due to the security and cooperative social environment their natal Druid territory provided. Though #301M soon became a wolf of unknown fate, #302M revealed his true identity toward the end of March, when he was amicably received into the Leopold pack and remained with them throughout the summer of 2003, apparently opting for the safety that his natal territory offered. Circumstantial evidence strongly indicated that #302M and brother #301M were the black uncollared dispersing wolves that had accompanied their father, #2M, in his swan song journey away from his alpha role in the Leopold pack, which ended in his death on the last day of 2002, only weeks before #302M first appeared in the Lamar.