Yellowstone Wolf Update May 20
5-20-97 (with a note added on 5/24)
Note: In the last three days, I have received numerous reports from the general public of sightings of the Rose Creek alpha male and female and their new pups. They have been very visible. Perhaps as a result of all the public attention, Kevin Sanders has informed me that the pack has moved its den site.
I just received some non-Park, non-government information on adult wolves 15M and 26F, who paired last September and settled to the SE of Yellowstone National Park. They appear to have denned in a wild area that his at least 18 grizzly bears in the drainage! It is also a controversial location on the Shoshone National Forest because for a number of years now the Shoshone has wanted to log the drainage, and more recently lease it out to oil and gas exploration. The Shoshone has just started to make another push to log out the drainage.
Here is the latest information on the Yellowstone wolves. This information came from Deb Guernsey in Yellowstone National Park. It is very lengthy. There are five pups confirmed for the Leopold Pack and 15 pups to the Rose Creek Pack. Four more pups were born inside the Nez Perce enclosure. A number of other litters are still expected to be identified. That's 24 pups total so far (not counting those of No. 19 which perished after she was killed by other wolves).
Crystal Creek Pack
Wolf 5F, alpha female, color=light gray,
location=Pelican Valley
Wolf 6M alpha male, color=black, location=Pelican Valley
Question: Has number 5 denned?
Leopold Pack (there are five new pups!)
Wolf 2M, alpha male, color=black and silver,
location=Blacktail Deer Plateau (BDP)
Wolf 7F alpha female, color=reddish gray, location=BDP
Wolf 54? yearling, color=gray, location=BDP
Wolf 55? yearling, color=gray, location= BDP
Wolf 56? yearling, color=black, location=BDP
Wolf 95? pup
Wolf 96? pup
Wolf 97? pup
Wolf 98? pup
Wolf 99? pup
Notes: Only the alpha pair has radio collars. None of the yearlings or pups have ever been captured. Their sexes are unknown. No. 7 is the Alberta-born daughter of no. 9F, the alpha female of the Rose Creek Pack.
Druid Peak Pack
Wolf 31M adult subordinate, color=gray,
location=Lamar Valley
Wolf 38M adult alpha male, color=gray, location=Lamar Valley
Wolf 40F adult female, pack status uncertain, color=gray, location=Lamar
Valley
Wolf 41F adult female, pack status uncertain, color=black, location=Lamar
Valley
Wolf 42F adult female, pack status uncertain, color=black, location=Lamar
Valley
Notes: Number 38 was observed to mate with all three females. It is not known which is the alpha female. Number 31 was formerly of the Chief Joseph Pack, but joined with Druid Peak last autumn. One or more of the females likely has pups. All of these wolves were captured in British Columbia and released in March 1996.
Chief Joseph Pack
Wolf 16F 2 year old alpha female, color =black,
location=NW area of park
Wolf 17F 2 year old alpha female, color=gray, location=NW area of park
Wolf 34M adult alpha male, color=gray, location=NW area of park
Notes: Nos. 16 and 17 and daughters of no. 9, the alpha female of the Rose Creek Pack. Both 16 and 17 are listed as alphas because both have denned and probably have pups. The exact relation of this fairly new trio is not known at present. No. 34 was captured in British Columbia and released in March 1996.
Soda Butte Pack
Wolf 14F adult alpha female, color=gray,
location=Heart Lake
Wolf 24F 2 year old female, subordinate status, color=black, location=Heart
Lake
Wolf 43M yearling, subordinate status, color=gray, location=Heart Lake
Wolf 44F yearling, subordinate status, color=black, location=Heart Lake
Notes: No. 24F was the lone pup born by no. 14F in May 1995. Nos. 43 and 44 are two or three pups born by no. 14F in May 1996. One pup died. No. 14 is believed to have denned. Until recently the alpha male was no. 13M, "Old Blue". Old Blue recently died of natural causes (old age?).
Rose Creek Pack (21 wolves!)
This is kind of complicated, given all the wolves.
It is not clear whether they will remain as one pack.
Wolf 8M alpha male, color=gray, location=west of Lamar
Valley (such as Slough Creek, the lower Lamar River, etc.).
Wolf 9F alpha female, color=black, location=west of Lamar Valley
Wolf 18F 2 years old, pack status uncertain, color=black, location= west of
Lamar Valley
Wolf 21M 2 years old, pack status uncertain, color=black, location= west of
Lamar Valley
Wolf 51? yearling, subordinate, color=gray, location=west of Lamar Valley
Wolf 52? yearling, subordinate, color=black, location=west of Lamar Valley
Wolf 53? yearling, subordinate, color=black, location=west of Lamar Valley
Wolf 77? pup
Wolf 78? pup
Wolf 79? pup
Wolf 80? pup
Wolf 81? pup
Wolf 82? pup
Wolf 83? pup
Wolf 84? pup
Wolf 85? pup
Wolf 86? pup
Wolf 87? pup
Wolf 88? pup
Wolf 89? pup
Wolf 90? pup
Notes: Nos. 18F and 21M were born to no. 9F, the pack's alpha female in May 1995. They were both sired by no. 10M. Nos. 51-53 were born in May 1996 to 9F and sired by no. 8M.
The pups this year were born to no 9 and also to no. 18. I don't which pups are which. Number 18 apparently had the larger litter. Obviously a number of no. 9's offspring from 1995 have dispersed (nos. 16, 17, 19, 23). No. 19F bore four pups this spring, but she was killed, probably by the Druid Peak Pack, and the pups perished. Rose Creek apparently remains the Park's largest wolf pack.
Nez Perce Trio
This is a new pack.
Wolf 29M alpha male, color=gray, location= western portion of park
Wolf 33F alpha female, color=black, location=western portion of park
Wolf 69M yearling, subordinate, color=gray, location= western portion of park
Notes: No. 29M escaped from the Nez Perce enclosure in late winter after impregnating his apparent sister, no. 37F, inside the enclosure. No. 33F was released in March 1996 as part of the Chief Joseph Pack. No. 69M is one of "Sawtooth pups" captured last spring near Augusta, Montana. No. 69 is not the offspring of any wolf inside Yellowstone Park.
Nez Perce Yearlings (formerly called the "Sawtooth
pups")
Wolf 63F color=gray, location unknown
Wolf 64F color=gray, location=Madison River/Madison Jct. Area
Wolf 65F color=gray, location=Madison River/Madison Jct. Area
Wolf 67F color=black, location=Madison River/Madison Jct. Area Wolf 68F
color=gray, location=Nez Perce pen Area
Wolf 72M color=gray, location=Madison River/Madison Jct. Area
No Name Pack 1
No. 30F alpha female, color=gray, location=Thorofare
area
No. 35M alpha male, color=black, location=Thorofare area
Note: This pair united last summer. They are located in the most remote place in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. It is believed no. 30 has denned.
No Name Pack 2
No. 15M alpha male, color=black and silver, southeast of
Yellowstone National Park
No. 26F 2 year old alpha female, color=gray, location=southeast of Park
Notes: No. 15M was introduced as part of the Soda Butte Pack. When that pack was recaptured, no. 15 became separated from the rest, i.e., he wasn't caught until later. No. 26F is the British Columbia-born daughter of No. 27F who remains in the Nez Perce enclosure. It is not know if this pair denned. They are far from the rest of the wolves and not regularly monitored.
Lone Wolves
No. 39F, adult female, color=light silver,
location=unknown
No. 48F, yearling female, color=gray, location=unknown
No. 23M, 2 year-old male, color=black, location=unknown
Notes: No. 39 has a radio collar, but she has
wandered very widely since she dispersed from the Soda Butte Pack last summer.
No. 23 is one of No. 9F's pups from May 1995, No. 23 dispersed, but had no
radio color and hasn't been located. Due to the lack of a collar Wolf 23 may
well never be location.
Wolf 48F escaped from the Nez Perce pen in May.
Other free-ranging wolves, lone wolves?
No.49? gray yearling, location=unknown
No. 50? gray yearling, location=unknown
These 2 pups were possibly seen with no. 39F near Springdale, Montana on 12/12/96. Springdale is quite a way north of the Park near the Yellowstone River and Interstate highway I-90.Their mother, 027F, was captured and placed in the Nez Perce pen on 01/16/97. Neither of the pups is radio-collared; accordingly, the fate of these pups is a mystery. No. 48F, a sister, is believed to be a lone wolf after escaping from the Nez Perce pen this May.
Captive Wolves
No. 27F, adult, status=unknown, color=silver gray,
location=Nez Perce Pen
No. 37F, 2 years old, status=unknown, color=gray, location=Nez Perce Pen
No. 66M, yearling, status=subordinate, color=black, location=Nez Perce Pen
No. 70M, yearling, status=subordinate, color=gray, location=Nez Perce Pen
No. 91F pup
No. 92M pup
No. 93M pup
No. 94M pup
Big Sandy canid, age= 3 or 4 years; color=gray, location=Rose Creek Pen
Notes: Nos. 91-94 were unexpectedly born to no. 37F inside the Nez Perce Pen. The father is no. 29M who escaped from the pen in early March 1997. No. 37 is no. 27's British Columbia born daughter. The wolves inside the Nez Perce pen will probably now be released in late June. Nos. 66 and 70 are two of the "Sawtooth Pups," now yearlings, and are not related to the rest of the wolves in the pen. No. 48F, one of no. 27F's offspring, born on the Beartooth Front and finally captured this winter recently escaped from the Nez Perce pen by climbing a tree. No. 48 is the second wolf to escape in this manner (no. 29M did the same in early March).
The "Big Sandy canid" is the "wolf" lassoed by a rancher on a snowmobile near the Wind River Mountains SE of Jackson, Wyoming near Pinedale. Whether it is a wolf or not has still not been determined. See my story dated Feb. 26, 1997.
There are certainly getting to be a lot of wolves for which to keep track!
© 1997 Ralph Maughan
Not to be reprinted, archived, redistributed, etc.,
without permission.
Ralph Maughan PO Box 8264, Pocatello, ID 83209 208-236-2550