The rise of wolf 8, p.17
The Rise of Wolf 8, page 17
If the alpha female tried to do the same thing in the future, would he intervene and stop her? I had never seen 21 harm a female in his pack. He seemed to adhere to a code of behavior that prohibited him from doing anything that might injure a female, even if one bit him. During a later breeding season, I saw him get bitten repeatedly by a small female he was interested in. I tallied that she bit him nine times, snapped threateningly at him ninety times, and once even knocked him down. He snapped at her once and pinned her once. It appeared that he accepted her right to bite him and would not bite her back or use force on her. Later, after rejecting him, she ran off and bred with another male. That year, the Druid pack was very large, and the interrelatedness of the wolves was complicated. The female might well have rejected 21 because they were too closely related.
I tried to figure out how 21 and other male wolves came to have that code of conduct. While watching many den sites over decades, I saw clearly that the mother wolf was the undisputed boss of the family. If a pup wandered off too far, she would run over, grab it by the back, and carry it back to the den. Mother wolves are very decisive when it comes to correcting pup behavior, while the adult males rarely intervene.
Alpha females set the agenda for the pack: where to den, when to go out on hunts, and where to travel. As male pups grow up, they seem to retain that understanding of how wolf life works. The females make the decisions and enforce the rules. 40 was the queen; 21 just worked for her. If his code prohibited him from using force against her if she was about to harm another female’s pups in the future, who could save them? The alpha female would attack any other Druid wolf that stood up to her. If a mother tried to defend her pups, I had no doubt 40 would kill her.
I later came across a passage in Jim Halfpenny’s book Yellowstone Wolves in the Wild where he describes a similar event that took place in the spring of 1998. 40 was using the pack’s main den near the Footbridge and Hitching Post lots, and 42 was based on the same ridge east of the Institute. As in 1999, wolf watchers saw the alpha female travel to her sister’s den site, then heard fighting. Jim wrote, “From that day on, 42 never returned to her den.” As in 1999, Wolf Project staff visited that site and found a den, but no remains of pups. Jim’s information suggests that 40 may well have killed her sister’s pups two years in a row. Perhaps what I had thought was a false pregnancy in 1998 had been the real thing.
21
Life at the Druid Den
BY EARLY MAY 1999, many bison cows were calving, well before any elk calves were born. Two Druids approached a cow and her new calf, reddish in color. The cow drove them off. Two more Druids arrived and all four surrounded the bison pair. The cow chased off the nearest wolf. It came right back, and the wolves took turns darting in at the calf, which was now crowded next to its mother. The cow kept the wolves at bay by swinging her huge head back and forth in a threatening manner when they came too close. Then the cow and calf moved off. The wolves ran after them, but the cow turned and faced them. The pack never made a serious attempt to attack the calf due to the effective protection of its mother.
Elk calves arrived in late May, and one morning I saw the Druid alpha pair out hunting for them. The alpha female charged at a cow elk, and I spotted her newborn calf bedded down nearby. The wolves confronted the cow, but she charged at them, then chased the pair in circles. Picking out the biggest wolf, the cow ran at 21 and kicked forward at his hindquarters, a potentially crippling blow. He dodged the intended strike. As the cow concentrated on 21, 40 ran to the bedded calf, bit it, and struggled to pick it up. The mother raced over and drove the wolf off. As the elk dealt with her, 21 ran in, grabbed the calf, and ran off with it. Seeing that, the cow ran back and tried to kick 21. He had to drop the calf and run away to avoid her blows. But as she chased him, 40 ran in and got another bite in on the prone calf. The cow then got distracted by a nearby coyote. She veered off from 21 and went after it. That freed 21 to run back to the calf. He bit into it and that seemed to be the killing moment.
As pups grow, they need a lot of meat. It occurred to me that wolves may have evolved to time their breeding and birth of pups so they would be four to five weeks old, the period of weaning, when the elk and other local prey species were having their young in the spring. I documented that in one thirty-four hour period the Druid adults got at least four calves.
Being the most experienced, the alphas are usually the most successful hunters in a family, but on one occasion that spring, I saw the young Druid pack members succeed in a hunt when the alphas failed. An elk herd had spotted the Druids approaching and ran off. The pack chased them with 21 leading. He soon ended up in the middle of six cows and ran along among them. 40 and another wolf joined him. The trio stopped after failing to get any of the elk, then they looked back to the east. I swung my scope around and saw three of the younger pack members attacking a cow elk that was already on the ground. The alpha pair ran in and helped finish her off.
In late May, 21 left the den, crossed the road to the south, fed on a new elk carcass for a half hour, then moved back to the den to feed the pups. His protruding belly looked like it was bursting with meat. He was probably carrying a load of at least 20 pounds. It was Memorial Day weekend, the busiest weekend of the year for our section of the park. Soon he was just south of the den and heading toward the road crossing. Despite the No Stopping signs the rangers had put up, many drivers stopped anyway. Those cars were positioned directly between the wolf and his intended route to the den and the pups. Seeing the line of cars, 21 backed off and trotted west.
He paralleled the road but stayed in sight to park visitors. Soon there were a hundred cars stopped in the area or driving slowly back and forth. More vehicles arrived, and those drivers also stopped to watch and photograph the wolf. I could see 21 searching for a gap in the line of cars so he could run across to the north, but there were no breaks in what was nearly bumper-to-bumper traffic. There were too many cars already stopped in both lanes for me to use my red stop sign. I walked down the road, explained to drivers that a father wolf was trying to cross the road to bring food to his pups, and asked them to move on. But as soon as a few cars drove off, more vehicles arrived and took their place.
Four miles west of his intended crossing spot, 21 made a run to the road, but the line of cars stopped there caused him to turn back. He proceeded to dig a hole, regurgitated a big load of meat into it, and covered it up. He was stuffed with meat and likely feeling uncomfortable, especially due to the stress of not getting back to feed his pups, so he had to cache some of the meat. He went another two miles west and finally got across to the north. Now he had to walk six miles back to the den on that side of the road. That was the worst disturbance I had seen a wolf go through in Lamar. The incident showed how determined 21 was to get back to his pups. Nothing was going to stop him from bringing that meat home, certainly not having to walk an extra twelve miles.
IN EARLY JUNE, 104 was back, sniffing around an old bull elk carcass at the Chalcedony Creek rendezvous site and likely getting the scent of the Druid wolves there. Also in the area was 163, the pack’s sole surviving yearling. We knew from DNA testing that they were cousins. 21 fathered 163, probably with 40, while 38 and 42 were the parents of 104. The former Druid, now two years old, had helped raise the yearling. What would the two wolves do if their paths crossed?
When 163 spotted his former pack mate, he moved away, looking over his shoulder frequently. 104 walked slowly after him. Neither wolf, it seemed, recognized the other. When the yearling broke into a run, the older wolf charged after him. As he closed in, 163 lowered his head and body into a submissive posture. At that point, he must have recognized his relative, because he wagged his tail. He licked the older wolf’s face and the two began to play. After almost an hour and a half of traveling and playing together, the yearling moved off and swam the river in the direction of the den. I sensed he expected 104 to follow, but the older wolf was still south of the river when I had to leave because it was getting too dark to see.
The next day I found 104 alone at Slough Creek, sniffing at tall grass along the bank. A female duck, looking agitated, swam back and forth near him. I saw him reach down into some marsh grass and come up with a duck egg in his mouth. He ate it. He later found a carcass the Rose Creek wolves had been on, fed there the rest of the day, and in the evening moved off toward the Rose Creek alpha female’s den. I got her signal in that direction, along with four other Rose Creek wolves.
I could not think of a good explanation for 104’s behavior. He had left the Druids as a yearling and managed to join the Crystal Creek pack as their new alpha male, despite the bad blood between his family and that pack. Why did he leave those wolves when he was set for life as their breeding male? Now he was traveling alone toward another pack that considered his family an enemy. If the Rose wolves got his scent and tracked him down, they would attack and possibly kill him. Yet he confidently walked right toward them. As I lost sight of him to the north, I wondered if this was just another manifestation of his wandering spirit, always seeking out what was in the next valley or over the next ridge.
ON JUNE 11, I hiked up Dead Puppy Hill to watch the Druid den area. I saw 42 come out of the den forest, then noticed the pack’s other six adults bedded there. Two-year-old male 107 had dispersed from the pack late the previous fall, and we had no idea where he was now. A gray pup got up and walked toward 42. That was my first sighting of a new Druid pup in 1999. More pups came into view, and I got a count of five: two blacks and three grays. The pups wandered off and the adults followed them at a slow pace.
The next day I saw six pups: two blacks and four grays. Two of the grays wrestled with each other, then all six tussled in a big pile. The pups were only about six weeks old and were already vigorously wrestling, looking like they had been doing that for some time. I eventually saw pups as young as three weeks wrestle each other. That is also about the time they are learning to walk, so wrestling is likely the first game pups play.
A few days later, two-year-old 106 was babysitting the pups. The pups had wandered away from the den area, and she was following them, carrying a long stick in her mouth. A pup ran over and tried to leap up and grab it but missed and fell over. 106 turned around and went back toward the den, still holding the stick, trying to lure the pups to a safer area. They ignored her, so she gave up and followed them once more, holding the stick over the heads of two pups. Both tried to jump up and snatch it.
The older sister tried going back to the den again, but none of the pups followed. At that point she sat down, with the stick still in her jaws, perhaps hoping the pups would come to her, but they ignored her and continued trotting east. She dropped the branch and followed. Yearling 163 joined them. I had seen him earlier with a dried-out bison dropping, shaped like a Frisbee, in his mouth. A pup near him was now walking around with the unlikely toy.
The pups tired of their exploration and headed back to the den, led by one of their own rather than an adult. 163 seized the moment, got out in front of them, and led them toward the den forest, with the bison dropping now back in his mouth. When the pups stopped following him, he ran back and dropped the scat in front of them. A gray pup picked it up, then 106 ran in and romped with the pups. When 163 saw the bison dropping on the ground again, he picked it up, shook it like it was alive, and walked off with it. A gray pup followed him, grabbing the scat when 163 let it fall to the ground.
163 gave up on leading the pups back to the den and played with them instead. He found the stick the female had used to try to get the pups to follow her. He ran around with it and passed a black pup. It chased him. The yearling turned around and did a play bow to that pup. He dropped the stick and watched as the pup ran toward it. Just as the pup was about to reach it, 163 grabbed the stick and ran off. Soon he dropped it again and ran circles around the pups. He looked like he was having the time of his life.
It wasn’t all play, however. 163 was also monitoring the pups. A bit later I saw a gray pup trip and fall. Two other pups ran over, pounced on it, and seemed to be treating the gray very roughly. 163 ran there and hovered over the pups, acting like he was trying to stop the harassment of the first pup. But that pup jumped up and gleefully romped off like it enjoyed the rough play.
As 163 continued to play with the pups, chasing one, then another, a pattern emerged. Just as he was about to catch up with a running pup, it would abruptly collapse and act submissive. The sequence happened five times. That instinctive behavior might save a pup if a wolf from a rival pack chased and caught it. Years later, I saw a pup do exactly that when an alpha female from a neighboring pack pursued it. The pup collapsed and went limp while she nipped it a few times. Then she stopped and walked away without doing any real harm. It looked like the pup’s submissive behavior short-circuited her aggression. Even though all this activity looked like play, lessons in wolf social behavior were being learned.
IN LATE JUNE 1999, from my vantage point on Dead Puppy Hill, I watched the six Druid pups go down to the marsh for the first time. They were being supervised by 40 and 106. After a lot of play and some exploration, all the pups followed the alpha female in single file as she moved back uphill toward the den forest. It was like watching a line of nursery-school children being led back to the classroom by their teacher after recess. And, just as with small children, some pups moved along faster than others.
For both pups and children, there can be dangers in being left behind. One day the six pups were running after 42 toward the den forest, and a small black pup was having a hard time keeping up. A black bear with two cubs appeared after 42 and five pups had gone into the trees. 42 came back out, saw the bears, and went to that last pup. They walked side by side uphill toward the den forest, away from the bear family. 42 licked the pup as they traveled. When it got distracted and ran back toward the nearby road, 42 raced downhill, blocked the pup from going that way, then led it uphill again.
Usually, the young adults were enthusiastic participants in pup activities, but not always. A few weeks later, four pups had a play session. When 103 walked in, they pestered her for a feeding. Perhaps because her stomach was empty, she ran from them, but the pups chased her and continued to demand food. Soon it looked like the pups had invented a new game: wolf pinball. She would flee from one pup but run into another one who also pestered her. When 103 ran from that second pup, she was blocked by a third. She bounced from one pup to another.
163 continued to spend a lot of time playing with the pups. I would see pups chasing him as he ran from them with a stick in his mouth. He would pick up an antler and show it to the pups, and they would chase him. He was so much larger than they were that when he wrestled with the little pups, they looked like the small stuffed animals dogs like to carry around. And yet he was gentle with them and held back on his strength, so he appeared to be evenly matched with them.
We were getting more concerned with 163’s casual attitude toward human-related things. He often walked down the park road, passing by parked cars within a few yards. If he saw litter on the side of the road, he sometimes picked it up and carried it around. Those traits classified him as a habituated animal, meaning he had gotten so used to roads, cars, and people that he regarded it as safe to be close to them.
One day I found him walking along the road within six feet of a stopped van with excited and noisy people inside. I used my park radio to call in a law-enforcement ranger, and Mike Ross soon arrived on the scene. With his flashing lights on, Mike got out and yelled at the wolf. Now a bit frightened, 163 ran off the road to the north. To make the lesson clearer, Mike ran after him, still yelling and waving his arms.
The Park Service calls that aversive conditioning, and it can change an animal’s behavior the first time it is used. But some individuals get used to that and ignore the yelling and chasing. In those cases, a ranger might hit the animal on the rear end with a rubber bullet, hoping a painful experience near cars and people will teach a wolf to avoid them. I monitored 163 after that, and Mike’s treatment seemed to be working. A few days later, he was south of the pack’s den. He saw four people on a nearby hiking trail and ran away from them, looking over his shoulder as he fled.
Later that day, 163 went back toward the den and waded across Soda Butte Creek. Pausing midstream, he looked down into the water, reached into it, and came up with an old rubber boot. After carrying the boot in his mouth for a while, he dropped it back into the water. As he moved toward the road, I saw ten cars were stopped between him and the den. Twenty-six people were out of their cars photographing him. Pausing to look at the crowd, the wolf tried to circle around them, a good sign of his changing behavior toward humans. He crossed the road, and I lost him heading up to the den. A few days later, he went back to that section of the creek, waded out, found that boot again, and carried it up to the den to give to the pups as a toy.
In mid-June, I got signals from 104 from the Chalcedony Creek area but did not spot him. I could not figure out what he was doing, but after so much time away from the Crystal Creek pack, it seemed he was not going back to them. In late June, I saw him with 163 near a carcass up the Lamar River. Other people told me that the two wolves had fed side by side at the site. Later in the day, signals from those two wolves and from 21 came from that area, suggesting 21 had joined them.
