An old article I came across written by Ralph Maughan about Yellowstone National Park’s Druid Wolf Pack. They’ve been called the most famous wolves in the world due to the fact that their den and primary living area were both in full view of a major road in the northwest part of the park. Hundreds of people a day would set up along the road, wait for them to appear, watch them until they (the wolves that is) got bored and went somewhere else. Best viewing times were at sunrise and sunset.
Link to Ralph’s site: The Wildlife News | News and commentary on wildlife and public land issues in the Western United States
Link to a wiki page created about them: Druids Pack | Wolves Wiki | Fandom
As of 2010 the Druid Peak pack was extinct.
Hi folks,
Here is the latest major wolf news from the Greater Yellowstone wolf recovery area.
Ralph Maughan
#######################
Famous Druid Pack splinters
Jan. 23, 2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Few thought over 30 wolves could stay together in one pack indefinitely, and now it is clear the Druid Peak Pack has splintered. The large pack enabled by the fratricide of 2000 will not reassemble. Presently the pack has split into three groups, each of which may have pups this spring. There is still the main group, led by 21M and 42F, with about 15 wolves. A second group is led by 106F and an uncollared mate. A third group, all uncollared wolves, also roams the area. A number of Druid wolves have also dispersed. Details must await the next Gray Wolf Progress Report from the USFWS.
The result of the 2-year-long Druid expansion was that the Rose Creek Pack, introduced in 1995 and once the Park's largest pack with 24 wolves, has been pushed further and further down the Yellowstone River. This pack of now only seven wolves, occupies the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone (in the winter) from Cottonwood Creek downstream to Gardiner, Montana. Bill Kaiser of Helena told me this weekend that Rick McIntyre and a group from the Yellowstone Institute observed 4 gray wolves chasing a larger black wolf on Hell Roaring slopes. "It appeared the black wolf was running for his life." Doug Smith, leader of the Yellowstone wolf team, told me that he didn't know the details, but all of the wolves on the northern range are in mating season and jostling for position and range. Significantly, the expansion of the Druid Pack has not increased the number of wolves on the Yellowstone northern range significantly. The northern range count was 72 wolves at the end of 2000 and 77 at the end of 2001. Once again this is evidence that the wolf population may soon stop growing as wolves are pushed out of the Park by existing or new packs, and then they occupy the niches of habitat around the park, and there is some news here. The Taylor Peaks pack, which lost its alpha female this year due to dispersal (probably expulsion), has a new alpha female, 198F. She is leading her pack back-and-forth between the Taylor Peaks (of the Madison Range) and the Gravelly Range, crossing the highway and the Madison River in the process, upstream from Ennis, Montana. The old Taylor Peaks pack had a territory nearly perpendicular to this, ranging from West Yellowstone to the SE to near Ennis on the NW. Observation of the Taylor Peaks pack indicates they are still living almost entirely on the remains of the elk hunt. They are killing few elk or deer. This provides further evidence for the hypothesis that the deer and elk hunts generally benefit the wolves by providing partial carcasses, gut piles, and wounded prey. A new group of wolves was sighted near the south end of the Madison Range (Earthquake Lake/Beaver Creek). The Freezeout Pack, new last spring, still occupies the southern end of the Gravelly Range and a group of wolves is on Ted Turners Snowcrest Ranch and the Blacktail Game Range at the southern end of the Snowcrest Range. The Snowcrests are the next Montana mountain range west of the Gravellys. These wolves are likely the remains of the Gravelly Pack, which was "controlled" last spring, plus new wolves -- a radio collared member of the Chief Joseph Pack is among them.
-end-
Last Friday members of the Park's two largest packs had a violent dispute when 8 or so members of the Nez Perce Pack (the Park's second largest wolf pack) moved north and were repelled by members of the Druid Peak Pack. It appears the alpha male of the Nez Perce 70M was injured as was perhaps the Druid alpha female 42F, although her injuries seemed to be minor, and the blood on her flank perhaps that of another wolf. Last year about this time the Nez Perce Pack briefly left their central Yellowstone home range and briefly moved onto the northern range, although apparently without incident. The Nez Perce Pack has over 20 members and the Druids over 30, although it appears sub-groups are forming.
Recently biologists recovered the carcass of a dead grizzly cub in the
territory of the Druid Peak Pack. The bear had been chewed on by wolves,
and because there was hemorrhaging around the bites this indicated the
bear was alive when the wolves bit it. This dead cub, is the second grizzly cub probably killed by wolves. Earlier this year a similarly dead cub was found in the Hayden Valley, in proximity to the Nez Perce Pack. Perhaps size of the pack has something to do with it. The Druids and the Nez Perce are the two largest packs in the Park.
I wonder if the cub was killed in the incident described in early
August by John Harryman. It is also possible that grizzlies have killed a wolf or two in unrecorded backcountry mortality of uncollared wolves. By large, however, grizzlies have greatly benefited by the extra animal protein the wolves have provided, and grizzlies seem to almost always win the carcass. One report said the grizzly wins in Yellowstone about 90 per cent of the time.
Hi folks,
Here is a good news story.
Ralph Maughan
#############
Despite all the negative news I have had to write about wolves being killed in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area of Idaho because a band of sheep was dropped on them, I recently had an excellent wolf observation trip to Yellowstone, where I saw, along with many other folks, terrific wolf action. It is my dream that central Idaho might someday have all the wildlife of Yellowstone without its current marginal and hobby livestock operations to threaten the wildlife.
The highlight for me was two Druid-grizzly bear interactions near Round Prairie on Soda Butte Creek. Just as the sun was rising on June 30, I spotted a black yearling from the Druids walking along the side hill that runs from near the Soda Butte Cone and ends at Round Prairie, about 2 miles. It was mildly interesting to watch until the wolf reached a patch of sagebrush and suddenly flushed a large dark brown creature. I soon saw that it was a small grizzly bear, perhaps just having been driven off by its mother. The wolf and the bear followed each other around in circles for about 10 minutes with the high point when they came almost nose-to-nose (well, maybe 2-3 feet apart). The interaction seemed playful.
A few minutes later I drove to Round Prairie where many vehicles were pulled onto the shoulder. The core of the Druid Pack was on the meadow, where they had killed a bull elk the previous night. It was easy to see their shapes, but the details were difficult in the full backlighting of the early morning sun. Many people wonder how or why wolves would kill a bull elk in June, when presumably bulls are almost invincible, but Dr. Doug Smith of the Yellowstone wolf team told me they examined the bull's carcass and found that the elk had some arthritis, which might explain why it was so low when most elk have moved to higher elevations. He also said that almost every elk left in the Lamar tends to get a very close look by the wolves, who will soon likely leave the area to follow the elk up to summer pastures.
Late that afternoon, an adult grizzly claimed the elk carcass and was seen by hundreds of people as it fed on the carcass, which laid in Soda Butte Creek. More surprisingly, soon a lone gray wolf approached the bear and the carcass and cautiously began to feed along side the bear. The grizzly was not pleased, and the bear chased the wolf (Druid 106F) several times, but each time she came back, and after about a half hour the bear was chewing on one end of the elk in the creek and allowing 106F the other. Smith said the wolf's persistence in the face of grizzly's chases was unusual.
The next morning I was fortunate to see five of the Druid puppies playing on a hillside meadow on Druid Peak. I was told 7 in all were observed the morning
As mentioned, the Druids will probably soon leave the browning and increasingly hot Lamar Valley. They have already made long trips up the Lamar River, where Smith said he say hundreds of elk in the headwaters near the Mirror Plateau.
Wolf watching currently begins at about 5:30 a.m. and ends at 7 a.m. Then it is renewed from 7 p.m. to sunset, although I was extremely fortunate to observe a large gray wolf on Gibbon Meadow, probably a member of the Nez Perce Pack, for about a half hour at 10 a.m. on June 29.
##########
A note. I earlier reported that alpha female 42F had 4 pups and 103F of the Druids had three; but now it has been seen that 42F and perhaps other packs members have a total of nine near Druid Peak. 103's den is about 5 miles to the west, where she has three. Assuming no Druids have dispersed and no mortalities, the size of the pack could be 39!
Hi folks,
Here is some news on the non-YNP, Wyoming wolves, but I should add that there is news about the famous Druids. Many people have taken the time to write to me and I want to thank them. There are just 2 dens with pups, the traditional den of 42F and 103F's den. No. 42 has 4-6 pups and 103 has 3 pups. There was much speculation that 103F was receiving no help from the rest of this (huge) pack, but recently a number of Druids have visited her den.
Ralph
Call of the Wolf, Watchable wildlife draws visitors to Yellowstone in
summer
BY DAVID SIMPSON - Salt Lake Tribune
Tuesday, May 22, 2001
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo., -- The crackling of a two-way
radio shatters the silence as dawn breaks just after dawn in Yellowstone
National Park's Lamar Valley.
"We've got a gray wolf heading north on the bench behind Hitching
Post," Rick McIntyre says into the radio. "He's moving toward the road and it looks like he might try to cross. Can you see him from where you are?"
Erin Cleere, on the receiving end of the message, peers through her
spotting scope. "We can see him," she answers through her radio. "We'll
keep you posted.''
Cleere is stationed on a hill above a pullout on the Lamar Valley
Highway about a half mile from the spot where McIntyre is watching the wolf.
As biological technicians for Yellowstone's Gray Wolf Restoration
Project, McIntyre and Cleere keep track of wildlife and the people who stream into the country's first national park every spring to view the abundant wildlife from areas along the road. Most are well equipped with binoculars or spotting scopes.
Since a wolf was hit by a vehicle and killed last year on the Lamar
Valley road in the northeast section of the park, Cleere says the radios are
used to simultaneously monitor the movements of animals and warn traffic if
they head for the road.
Veteran wildlife watchers have learned that anyone, such as
McIntyre and Cleere, holding a radio usually knows where the viewable wildlife is located. Many choose the Lamar Valley specifically to see wolves and grizzly bears, which along with black bears and bighorn sheep are some of the more reclusive wildlife that can be seen in late spring and early summer. At this time of year, the animals' food sources draw them into more visible habitat, joining the ubiquitous elk, antelope and bison.
Wildlife watching is also popular in other parts of the park. Last
week people gathered at a pullout along the Yellowstone River in the central
area of the park to watch a grizzly bear devour a bison carcass on the opposite bank of the swift moving river.
But wolves are the most popular attraction.
McIntyre, who has spent every spring and summer watching the wolves
since they were reintroduced in 1995, estimates that more than 70,000 people
have caught a glimpse of the animals. For the past five years, the Druid
Peak Pack, with at least 26 members, has denned close to the Lamar Valley road making them the most visible wolves.
"Yellowstone is probably the best place in the world to see wild
wolves," he says. "So for anybody with that goal, this is the place to be."
McIntyre says most watchers who visit the Lamar Valley are
generally respectful of the wildlife and obey the rules, like not leaving the road to approach the animals. As a park employee, "that's a very pleasant situation to be around," he says.
Keeping tabs on wildlife watchers is not hard. Like the wolves,
they tend to gather in packs. Many times the way they find the animals is to look for a parking area full of people all looking in the same direction, says Yellowstone spokeswoman Marsha Karle.
As recently as the early 1990s, the Lamar Valley was a "sleepy"
corner of the park, she says. It was the wolf reintroduction program, which
increased the area's popularity.
Karle says it is difficult to say how many more people visit the
Lamar Valley now compared to 10 or 15 years ago because the park does not
track visitors to specific regions of the park. While the Lamar Valley still
is not as busy as many other destinations in Yellowstone, Karle says it's
obvious that visitors to the northeast part of the park have increased
substantially. To accommodate the growing numbers, the park repaved the road last year, built some new pullouts and enlarged and paved existing ones.
Bill and Jessie Johnson of Boise have been visiting Yellowstone on
and off since 1969. For the past three years the couple's excursions have
targeted the Lamar Valley.
"We feel quite lucky to be able to [travel] eight hours and see
something like this," says Bill Johnson as he uses binoculars to follow three wolves. "We enjoy coming here because of the variety of animals and because it's relatively easy to see them," he says.
Rich Kirchner, a freelance wildlife photographer from Bozeman,
Mont., has been visiting the Lamar Valley for 28 years and has noticed the area's mushrooming popularity. He says he does not take as many photographs as he used to because of the crowds, but it does not bother him.
"I'm a firm believer that unless people can see and experience
wildlife firsthand, it's hard for them to get behind preservation and
conservation," he says.
Anne Whitbeck, a retired Boulder, Colo., resident, has been
visiting the Lamar Valley every year since wolves were reintroduced. Wildlife watching is such a passion for her that she moves to nearby Cooke City, Mont., for about two months in the spring.
She shows up at the roadside turnouts early in the morning and
again at dusk which are the prime times for wildlife watching.
She has become so popular and frequent, the biologists have even
given her a radio so she can help wolf project workers keep tabs on the movements of wildlife and the watchers. She also offers some tips to people who are new at spotting animals. One recent park visitor from France spent four days looking for wolves, she says. On his last day he still had not seen one. "I said 'get in your car and follow me, I'll find you a wolf.' " Pointing to her radio she says, "I'm cheating.''
Druid wolf pack survives winter
By JEFF TOLLEFSON - Billings Gazette
Yellowstone National Park's famed Druid Peak wolf pack has surprised
scientists yet again, surviving a mild winter without any losses despite having 20 hungry pups to feed.
At 26, the Druids are the largest pack in the park. They dominated the
Lamar Valley in northern Yellowstone this winter, expanding their territory
to feed all those mouths.
The yearlings still came in underweight.
"They were among the lightest pups we've seen in six years,"
Yellowstone Wolf Project Leader Doug Smith said Friday. "But they survived."
Winter, when prey animals are run down by cold and an endless search
for forage, is actually the wolves' best season. The relatively poor
condition of the wolves shouldn't be surprising, however, because it's never easy finding food for 26 wolves, Smith said.
And it could be a long summer for the Druids. Once young calves grow
strong enough to run with the herd, summer becomes an easy season in which elk and other ungulates grow and regain their strength.
It can be a tough season for wolves.
"We already think the pack is going through some stress," Smith said.
"We think four wolves were impregnated, but we think two of them have already lost their pups."
Smith attributes the possible litter losses to poor body condition.
With so many wolves, he said, the social dynamics also start to break down.
"Something has got to give," Smith said. "The pups last year are now
yearlings, and I think some of those yearlings are going to disperse, and I think some of them are going to die."
That said, the Druids have been known to upset predictions. The Druids
took everyone by surprise last spring with a record three litters and 21
pups. One pup disappeared and presumably died last summer.
Conventional knowledge had it that the alpha male and alpha female of a
pack produce the only litter each year, but the Druid alpha male bred with
two other females besides the alpha.
Several Druid females bred again this winter; the final results are
still out. Wolves stick close to their dens when they have young, and researchers try to give them a little extra room.
If Yellowstone's brief experience with reintroduced wolves offers any
insight, the Druid Peak wolf pack is headed for a sharp decline.
Smith said the average pack size for wolves that prey on elk is about
10 wolves. As it happens, the Rose Creek pack, which once had the run of
northern Yellowstone with 24 wolves, now numbers only 10.
Rose Creek has now become two groups of five although only one group
had a litter this spring. As the Rose Creek population declined, so did its
authority among other wolf packs. The Druids moved west and took over a healthy swath of Rose Creek territory this winter.
"They were that big one winter, and they immediately began declining,"
Smith said, noting that three or four Rose Creek wolves died, and the rest
simply left to find a new life. "I think that's a good prototype example for
what is going to happen to Druid Peak."
Hi folks,
I recently reported that the Druid Peak Pack had an incredible 4 dens,
but Doug Smith leader of the Yellowstone wolf team tells me, the situation
is complicated and not clear.
All four of the adult female dug separate dens.
105F denned first and her den was the focus of much pack activity. Soon
afterward 42F denned in the pack's traditional den and that too became
a focus of wolf activity, and still is. 106F denned, but no other wolves visited it and neither does 106 anymore. 103F denned last and that den is now the main focus of activity. So it is possible that only 2 litters of pups were born, or only two survived. A lesser possibility is the pups were born and moved to the traditional pack den on Druid Peak, to mingle with 42's pups. The idea that 105, and maybe 106, brought pups to the traditional den is not particularly likely because pups are not usually moved at such an early age. If 10 or 15 pups show up at a rendezvous site later this spring the question may never be answered. It will, however, if only 4 or 5 show up and also if 20 or so pups appear.
Ralph
A WOLF PACK WINTERS IN YELLOWSTONE or ANOTHER HO-HUM DAY IN PARADISE
by Meredith and Tory Taylor
It's now winter in Yellowstone and what a glorious time to witness this
frozen wonderland with it's wide diversity of wildlife playing out their
lives. When we arrived in Lamar Valley last week at dawn the temperature of minus 17 degrees F was penetrating and bone-chilling. Yet, there were the
hundreds and hundreds of elk grazing placidly on the slopes, coyotes pouncing on mice under he snow, bald eagles soaring overhead and watching great bison sweep the snow with their shaggy heads, and the Druid wolf pack curled up, taking their nap on a knoll above the valley. All of Yellowstone's inhabitants, including
we
two-leggeds, were taking it all in stride like any normal day. But
then, it WAS
a normal winter day in Yellowstone.
We waited patiently along the Lamar Valley for the Druid wolves to
arise while
we visited with numerous wolf watchers, biologists and photographers.
The
wolves seemed unaware of their expected presentation to the world as
they
zzzzzed away the day on a bald, snow-covered knoll in the sunlight. We
retreated for a few hours midday to crosscountry ski near Hell-Roaring
Creek
where we heard another wolf gathering across the Yellowstone River. The
Rose
Creek pack? Later, we skiied over fresh wolf tracks along the river.
Obviously
other wolves besides the Druids were travelling in the area.
We learned from our fellow wolf groupies that the Druid Pack had
recently
returned to Lamar Valley from a three week circumnavigation of the
Sunlight
Basin country east of the Yellowstone. Risky business for a wolf to
leave the
protection of the park, but the Druids had itchy feet. Now home, they
settled
into their normal routine of eating, sleeping, and playing comprised of
mock
battles and much wrestling.
With 21 pups born to the Druid pack last season (an unheard of
biological
phenomenon), the pack is heavy with the young energy and puppy
inexperience.
Upon our return that afternoon to Lamar Valley, the wolves arose from
their
long winter's nap to romp and play amid much tail wagging, rolling in
the snow,
and expressing their joy to the world. But the alpha female, F#106, a
svelte
petite gray, had many mouths to feed and dinner on her mind. She
started off
down the snowy slope in the waning light of the setting sun with her
pack
strung out behind for a quarter mile. They bounded along the ridgeline
silhouetted against the bright light at their backs. The primal scene
before us
had been played out for millenia in the historic balance of predator
and prey
in wild places like Yellowstone, but not often observed by humans. The
23
wolves barrelled off the slope, snow flying at their heels, pups still
playing
tag until they regrouped in the dark timber along the valley floor.
Reassessing their strategy, the alpha female again took the lead and
trotted
out toward the rapidly retreating elk herd. Steam rose from the
bellowing lungs
of the elk now thundering away. The Druids took in the scene and went
into a
ground-eating trot. But life is not always what it appears and
surprises occur.
From our spot across the valley, it looked like the classic predator
pursuit of
their prey when all of a sudden several wolves stemmed from the main
pack,
kicked into high gear, and pounced on a very unlucky coyote. The coyote
was
unwittingly in the wrong place at the right time and was instantly
shredded and
devoured. Wolves eat coyotes? It rarely happens apparently, but this
little
song dog had yipped its last chorus.
After this brief detour for a coyote appetizer the wolves regained lost
ground
toward the elk and were soon on an open bench with the alert elk herd.
The
female #106 trotted right past about 25 elk as if she had already
picked out
her target in a larger band of elk trotting away toward the setting
sun. The 25
elk seemed to understand this and watched the entire packed move past
them with
complete indifference. The first five Druids caught up with the large
band of
elk and lunged right through the herd. Female #106 is a world-class
sprinter,
perhaps her claim to the throne as alpha female, and she blurred away
from her
followers as if they were standing still. Singling out a cow that F#106
cut
out, the other lead wolves pursued this elk over the crest of a hill
and just
out of our sight, then
made the kill. RATS! We were now the ones in the wrong place at the
right time
in order to see the climax of the hunt.
Sooo... from the ensuing rush of all the 23 wolves to the killsite and
the
occasional wolf emerging to the ridgeline, we saw only a bit of the
feeding in
the glare of the sunset. The glowing red orb blinded all cameras,
binoculars
and spotting scopes as if the wolves, even at that distance, disdained
the
unwanted publicity. Hearing the wolf howls and seeing the occasional
puppy play
told us that the wolf watching was over for the day. The wolves would
feed on
this meal for the night and then repeat their pattern of sleeping again
before
awakening to check out the local ungulate population for any sign of a
weakness
that would make them the next offering.
As the full moon arose just after sunset, the wolf howls reminded us of
the
primal scene that only such a special place as Yellowstone can provide.
It was
a good day to be a wolf - and a wolf watcher - in this very special
place in
the world. We hope that Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, who
visited
Yellowstone two days later to celebrate his role in this wolf success
story,
also witnessed such wild miracles.
The mystery of Wolf 40
By Michael Milstein, of Montana Lee Newspapers
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -- A natural drama unfolding among the
wolves
in the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park over the last
month
contains all the elements of even the most sensational soap opera.
There's a tyrannical matriarch, adultery, child-snatching, revenge, a
coup
d'etat -- even murder.
And then, recently: a tragic car accident.
"The whole story of the Druid pack is developing into a very unique one
-- the
kind of story we have never seen before and perhaps would only have a
chance to
see in a place like Yellowstone,'' said Yellowstone Park wolf biologist
Doug
Smith.
Even biologists familiar with wolves' complex social structure and
penchant for
mate-swapping say they are amazed by the strange succession of events
that has
played out within the Druid Peak wolf pack and within viewing distance
of
visitors along Yellowstone' s northeast entrance road in May. The
events
suggest that the personalities and habits of individual wolves may
influence a
pack's fate as much as biological factors such as prey and habitat.
The Druid Peak pack was among the second group of wolves transplanted
from
Canada to Yellowstone in 1996 as part of the federal wolf recovery
program. The
pack got its name from the peak that towers over its home in the Lamar
Valley.
Soon after the pack's release in Yellowstone, its wolves earned a
reputation as
a kind of roving gang of thugs because of their tendency to kill other
wolves
that strayed into their territory and even to make forays beyond their
territory to strike at other packs. At the same time, though, the pack
grew
popular among park visitors after taking up residence along the
northeast
entrance road, where visitors could easily watch the wolves enter and
leave
their den, pursue elk and feed on kills.
It was a common sight to see Number 40, the pack's domineering alpha
female,
snapping at and forcing other wolves in the pack to the ground,
reinforcing her
control over the pack.
"She was a very aggressive, dominant wolf,'' Smith said. "She ruled
with an
iron fist, which is fine as long as you keep the upper hand.''
But she may have been losing the upper hand.
Biologists first realized this spring that not only Number 40 but also
two
other female wolves in the pack -- Number 42 and Number 106 -- had bred
with
the pack's alpha male and given birth to litters of pups in their own
dens. The
dens were separated by a few miles.
It's common for more than one female in a wolf pack to produce a
litter,
especially in a place like Yellowstone where prey is plentiful and
there's
plenty of food to go around, said David Mech, a wolf biologist with the
U.S.
Geological Survey's Biological Resources Division. But it is somewhat
unusual
for an alpha female as tyrannical as Number 40 to allow other wolves in
her
pack to raise litters of pups that might ultimately compete with hers.
Indeed, biologists suspect that Number 40 last year attacked Number 42,
raided
42's own den and killed her litter of pups.
`` After 42 got beat up, she quit being faithful to her den site'' --
as she
would if her pups had been killed by Number 40, Smith said.
Number 40 was last seen 0 one night early this month headed in the
direction of
Number 42's den, tended by 42 and two other female wolves.
When biologists next saw Number 40, she was badly injured, apparently
beaten
and battered by other wolves. She died soon afterwards from a ruptured
jugular
vein sustained in the attack.
"They didn't just kill her, they mutilated her,'' Smith said. "I could
bury my
finger up to the knuckle in the wound.''
Tracking records show that no radio-collared wolves from other packs
were in
the area when 40 was attacked.
"Our best hypothesis is that she was going after 42's den and 42 and at
least
one of the other wolves jumped her,'' Smith said. "They had had it with
her and
at the first sign of weakness they let her have it.''
Up-and-coming wolves often test the leadership of their pack' s alpha
male and
female and sometimes even overthrow the alphas, but usually let the
alphas
remain in the pack as a subordinate member. An unseated alpha wolf may
also
simply leave the pack. Smith does not know of any other recorded
instance where
a wolf pack has killed its own alpha female in the kind of fatal coup
d'etat
the Druids carried out against their leader.
But that's not all.
In the days after Number 40' s death, visitors saw an astonishing
spectacle:
Number 42 and Number 106 carrying their pups, one-by-one, to join the
pups of
the alpha wolf that had just been killed. The wolves of the Druid Peak
pack are
now apparently all caring for three litters in Number 40's original
den.
Biologists don't know how many pups may be in the den, but Number 40's
carcass
had 10 placental scars, suggesting she gave birth to 10 pups this
spring. If
the typical five or six of those pups survived the first few weeks and
Number
42 and 106 each carried at least a few of their own pups to the den,
"there
could be 10 to 12 pups or even more in there,'' Smith said.
If the other wolves have adopted 40's pups as it appears they have, it
would be
a remarkable show of com passion for the offspring of a matriarch that
had once
made their lives miserable.
"Losing 40 is a key blow, but when you look at the pack, you can't say
it has
had a real negative effect,'' he said. "In many ways it seems to have
reunified
a pack that previously had been held together by force.''
There are no other accounts in scientific literature of a wolf pack
killing its
own alpha female and then caring for her litter.
"This is by far the most complicated case anyone's ever heard of,''
Smith said.
On the heels of that development, another blow shook the Druid pack
last week:
a subordinate male wolf was struck and killed by a car late at night
along the
northeast entrance road. Although the wolf was still too young to be an
important player in the pack, he could eventually have taken on a
leading role
in a pack that remains dominated by female wolves, Smith said.
"The Druid pack, despite their reputation, has not had an easy time,''
he said.
"They are known as a strong, aggressive pack. Now we'll find out if
they stay
together without that force that Number 40 exerted on the rest of
them.''
THE DRUID PEAK PACK
Named after a prominent peak near the Rose Creek pen-
In early April, the National Park Service began to open the doors on
the
pens and the delivery of food was halted. On April 2, the door to the
Rose
Creek pen was opened. It took 12 days before the pack came out! To
avoid
confusion with the Rose Creek Pack of 1995, the pack released from the
Rose
Creek pen in 1996 was named the Druid Peak Pack. Druid Peak is a
prominent
peak just east of Rose Creek.
Druid Peak from Soda Butte Creek. Photo by Ralph Maughan
The Druids change from caution to bold aggressiveness-
Even after leaving the pen, the Druid Peak pack did not quickly explore
the
surrounding area. Nevertheless, it has proven to be a very aggressive
pack.
They killed the alpha male of the Crystal Creek Bench pack and a
yearling
from the Rose Creek Pack. They may have also injured the alpha female
of the
Crystal Creek Pack and killed her 1996 litter of pups. The Crystal
Creek
female (no. 5F) denned, but no pups were ever observed, Number 5F
abandoned
her den shortly after the Druids killed her mate, and she was seen
limping
with her tail held low for a while. These two confirmed kills of other
wolves came in separate fights. Rick McIntyre has written a fascinating
eye-witness account of the fight <fight.htm> between the Rose Creek
and
Druid Peak packs which took place on June 18, 1996 in Slough Creek.
<slough.htm> Finally, the Druids may have killed wolf 19F in April of
1997
with the result that her 4 pups perished too. The pack retained its
reputation of ferocity. I learned recently that in the fall of 1996
they
almost got wolf 34M, although surprisingly, they allowed his packmate
no 31M
to join the pack. The difference may have been that 34 was seeking to
pair
with a female and 31 was seeking to join the pack as the beta male.
The beautiful, white alpha female leaves the pack for six months-
In late July 1996, no. 39F, the "white wolf", alpha female of the pack,
suddenly left Yellowstone National Park and took a long "tour" along
the
north edge of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. She traveled north of
Red
Lodge, Montana, and then west to the vicinity of the larger town of
Livingston. In October she was located in the depths of the Absaroka
Mtns.
about 20 SE of Livingston. In November, she had moved about 50 miles to
NE,
crossed the Yellowstone River and part of the plains of Montana, to
take up
residence on the east slope of the Crazy Mountains, a rugged outlier of
the
Rockies. During the winter, she returned to the Park, but did not
rejoin the
Druid Peak pack immediately. However, she did spend from April through
October 1997 with the Pack. It was assumed that no. 41F became the
alpha
female in Druid Peak with no. 39 absent, but things changed in the fall
of
1997 and number 41 was driven from the pack, and no. 39 left again too.
Number 31M from the Chief Joseph Pack joins the Druids-
Although the Druids lost no. 39F, as I mentioned above, no. 31M,
released
with the Chief Joseph Pack (see its history below), joined the Druid
Peak
Pack in the fall of 1996. He remained a subordinate member of the pack,
the
only other adult male, for the rest of his life which ended with an
illegal
kill in late 1997.
Five pups for 1997-
Number 38M seemed to typify the aggressive and unusual character of
this
pack. In fact, he may have been the source of the pack's
aggressiveness.
During the winter of 1997 he was observed mating will all three females
in
the pack. Usually only an alpha pair mates. There were expectations of
a
very large number of pups. However, when all the pups were accounted
for,
there were but five -- the average number for a pack, and certainly a
manageable number. It is believed that all five were whelped by no.
42F. The
den site was in deep timber on Druid Peak and could not be observed.
During 1997, the Druids, eleven-strong, dominated Soda Butte Creek and
the
upper Lamar Valley; and, for the year, they became the Park's most
visible
pack. All five pups survived the summer and autumn of 1997. They were
almost
as large as the four adults in the pack. Two of the pups were captured
and
radio collared in Jan. 1998. One pup (no. 104M) weighed 105 pounds!
The pack's males, number 38 and 31, are illegally shot dead-
In late November 1997 the pack suddenly moved eastward over the crest
of the
Absaroka Range into the rarely-traveled North Absaroka Wilderness.
Despite
the paucity of people in this mountain fortress, someone shot both 38
and 31
in Crandall Creek. Number 31 died quickly but the alpha male, no. 38,
lingered for eleven days, dying finally in Hoodoo Creek. Doug Smith,
head of
the Yellowstone Wolf Team dropped food to no. 38 a number of time. Big
38
did climb out of gorge of Hoodoo Creek, but he died near the ridgeline.
One of the original Rose Creek pups joins and leads the Druids-
No. 21M was one of the last of famous number 9's original Rose Creek
pups to
disperse, but when the Druids returned from their lethal encounter in
Crandall Creek, no. 21, now in his second year, approached the pack and
was
accepted. The acceptance ritual lasted six hours and was filmed by
cinematographer Bob Landis. It is believed to be the only such filmed
ritual
on record. No. 21M is the lone adult male in the pack, and he
immediately
became its alpha male, replacing slain 38M. He had been traveling with
the
"white wolf," no. 39F, but most have seen a better opportunity in
joining
the Druids. Interestingly, no. 21's brother, no. 20 was killed by the
Druids
in interpack fight in June 1996.
The replacement of 38M and 31M with 21M seems to have lessened the
hostility
between the Druid Peak pack and the Rose Creek Pack. After no. 21 came
to
lead the Druids, hostile encounters with the Rose Creek Pack ended
until
fall of 1998 when the Druids caught a Rose Creek female alone in their
territory. The Druid alpha female, no. 40F led the attack, and pack
tore the
intruder apart.
Just two pups in 1998-
As in 1997, it was believed that both adult females had pups. Once
again
they denned in the dense timber on Druid Peak, where the pups remained
unobservable. Numerous pups were expected. However, much to the
surprise of
everyone, just two pups came down from the mountain when they were
finally
observed. Only one survived into the winter of 1998-9. However, upon
capture
for radio collaring, he has big (110 pounds) and healthy.
Throughout 1998 the Druids remained very visible, causing "wolf
[traffic]
jams" along the roadway as people watched, or hoped to watch them roam
the
Lamar Valley. They are clearly the most observed wild wolf pack in the
world.
NATURAL DRAMA
Wolf pack's activities like a soap opera
By MICHAEL MILSTEIN - Gazette Wyoming Bureau
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. - A natural drama unfolding among the
wolves
in the northeastern corner of Yellowstone National Park over the last
month
contains all the elements of even the most sensational soap opera.
There's a tyrannical matriarch, adultery, child-snatching, revenge, a
coup d'
etat - even murder.
And then, last week: a tragic car accident.
"The whole story of the Druid pack is developing into a very unique one
- the
kind of story we have never seen before and perhaps would only have a
chance
to see in a place like Yellowstone," said Yellowstone Park wolf
biologist Doug
Smith.
Strange succession of events
Even biologists familiar with wolves' complex social structure and
penchant
for mate-swapping say they are amazed by the strange succession of
events that
has played out within the Druid Peak wolf pack and within viewing
distance of
visitors along Yellowstone's northeastern entrance road in May. The
events
suggest that the personalities and habits of individual wolves may
influence a
pack's fate as much as biological factors such as prey and habitat.
The Druid Peak pack was among the second group of wolves transplanted
from
Canada to Yellowstone in 1996 as part of the federal wolf recovery
program.
The pack got its name from the peak that towers over its home in the
Lamar
Valley.
Soon after the pack's release in Yellowstone, its wolves earned a
reputation
as a kind of roving gang of thugs because of their tendency to kill
other
wolves that strayed into their territory and even to make forays beyond
their
territory to strike at other packs. At the same time, though, the pack
grew
popular among park visitors after taking up residence along the
northeastern
entrance road, where visitors could easily watch the wolves enter and
leave
their den, pursue elk and feed on kills.
It was a common sight to see No. 40, the pack's domineering alpha
female,
snapping at and forcing other wolves in the pack to the ground,
reinforcing
her control over the pack.
"She was a very aggressive, dominant wolf," Smith said. "She ruled with
an
iron fist, which is fine as long as you keep the upper hand."
But she may have been losing the upper hand.
Biologists first realized this spring that not only No. 40 but also two
other
female wolves in the pack - No. 42 and No. 106 - had bred with the
pack's
alpha male and given birth to litters of pups in their own dens. The
dens were
separated by a few miles.
It's common for more than one female in a wolf pack to produce a
litter,
especially in a place like Yellowstone where prey is plentiful and
there's
plenty of food to go around, said David Mech, a wolf biologist with the
U.S.
Geological Survey's Biological Resources Division. But it is somewhat
unusual
for an alpha female as tyrannical as No. 40 to allow other wolves in
her pack
to raise litters of pups that might ultimately compete with hers.
Indeed, biologists suspect that No. 40 last year attacked No. 42,
raided 42's
own den and killed her litter of pups.
"After 42 got beat up, she quit being faithful to her den site" - as
she would
if her pups had been killed by No. 40, Smith said.
No. 40 was last seen one night early this month headed in the direction
of No.
42's den, tended by 42 and two other female wolves.
When biologists next saw No. 40, she was badly injured, apparently
beaten and
battered by other wolves. She died soon afterwards from a ruptured
jugular
vein sustained in the attack.
"They didn't just kill her, they mutilated her," Smith said. "I could
bury my
finger up to the knuckle in the wound."
Tracking records show that no radio-collared wolves from other packs
were in
the area when 40 was attacked.
"Our best hypothesis is that she was going after 42's den, and 42 and
at least
one of the other wolves jumped her," Smith said. "They had had it with
her and
at the first sign of weakness they let her have it."
Up-and-coming wolves often test the leadership of their pack's alpha
male and
female and sometimes even overthrow the alphas, but usually let the
alphas
remain in the pack as a subordinate member. An unseated alpha wolf may
also
simply leave the pack. Smith does not know of any other recorded case
in which
a wolf pack has killed its own alpha female in the kind of fatal coup
d'etat
the Druids carried out against their leader.
But that's not all.
In the days after No. 40's death, visitors saw an astonishing
spectacle: No.
42 and No. 106 carrying their pups, one by one, to join the pups of the
alpha
wolf that had just been killed. The wolves of the Druid Peak pack are
now
apparently all caring for three litters in No. 40's original den.
Biologists don't know how many pups may be in the den, but No. 40's
carcass
had 10 placental scars, suggesting that she gave birth to 10 pups this
spring.
If the typical five or six of those pups survived the first few weeks
and Nos.
42 and 106 each carried at least a few of their own pups to the den,
"there
could be 10 to 12 pups or even more in there," Smith said.
If the other wolves have adopted 40's pups as it appears they have, it
would
be a remarkable show of compassion for the offspring of a matriarch
that had
once made their lives miserable.
"Losing 40 is a key blow, but when you look at the pack, you can't say
it has
had a real negative effect," he said. "In many ways it seems to have
reunified
a pack that previously had been held together by force."
There are no other accounts in the scientific literature of a wolf pack
killing its own alpha female and then caring for her litter.
"This is by far the most complicated case anyone's ever heard of,"
Smith said.
On the heels of that development, another blow shook the Druid pack
last week:
a subordinate male wolf was struck and killed by a car late at night
along the
northeastern entrance road. Although the wolf was still too young to be
an
important player in the pack, he could eventually have taken on a
leading role
in a pack that remains dominated by female wolves, Smith said.
"The Druid pack, despite their reputation, has not had an easy time,"
he said.
"They are known as a strong, aggressive pack. Now, we'll find out if
they stay
together without that force that No. 40 exerted on the rest of them."
At 6 a.m. on Monday, May 8, a severely injured wolf was found bleeding
heavily
near the road in Yellowstone National Park. It was the reigning
dominant
female - the alpha - of a pack of wolves known as the Druid Peak Pack,
which
had been reintroduced to the park in 1996.
She was the mother of a 4-week-old litter of puppies. Park officials
struggled
to save her, but within a few hours, she died. Since then park
biologists have
been trying to figure out what happened.
By Kari Grady Grossman - Discovery.com
5/25/00
A necropsy report of the dead alpha female revealed that her jugular
vein had
been pierced; severe wounds and punctures all over her body were
consistent
with wolf bites. A highly territorial species, wolves are known to kill
trespassers, but a review of radio telemetry reports from the collared
wolves
in the park proved there were no other packs in the area.
"The best that we can figure is that her own pack killed her," says
Douglas
Smith, Yellowstone's Wolf Project leader. In 21 years of studying
wolves, he's
never heard of such a thing.
Typically, a wolf pack operates as a cooperative unit, led by a single
alpha
pair whose sole mission is the survival of the pack. The alphas lead
the hunt
and they breed; the entire pack rears the couple's single litter of
puppies
each spring. But in Yellowstone, biologists are learning that wolf
society may
be much more complex.
The Druids are probably the most-studied wolves in the world. Because
the pack
lives in the Lamar Valley, which has a road running through it, park
biologists are able to catch a glimpse and document its movements
daily. The
alpha female was often seen disciplining the other female pack members.
"She ruled with an iron fist and she was a cruel leader, to put it
bluntly,"
says Smith. "She even kicked out her own mother."
She was particularly harsh to her sister, the beta female, and last
year
visited a den the beta had dug and kicked her out, possibly even
killing her
puppies. Smith believes that this year when the alpha came to attack
her den,
the beta and two other females ganged up on her.
"I think the feeling about her was widespread," says Smith. "It was
revenge."
The corpse also revealed 10 placental scars, meaning that the alpha
probably
gave birth to a large litter. For several days the alpha male attended
the
den, but eventually traveled to the beta's den and brought her back,
showing
her his problem. Over the next two days, the beta and other females
carried
their puppies one by one in their mouths for four miles, crossing the
swollen
Lamar River twice, to the pack's traditional den site.
It now looks like the beta, a Cinderella of sorts, has become the new
alpha.
Wolves are known to dethrone an alpha, but usually tolerate them in the
pack.
Animals have strategies, honed through time and evolution, to maximize
their
own reproductive success. "This beta used a strategy that is very
little used
in the wolf world," Smith says. "Most wolves disperse by 3 years of
age; she
hung on, endured beatings and eventually took over the pack."
"The real beauty of Yellowstone Wolf Restoration is their visibility,"
says
Mike Jimenez, project leader for wolf recovery in Wyoming, outside the
park.
He's been studying wolves for 15 years and believes what happened may
be more
common than we know.
"We just don't get to see it," Jimenez says. "I've seen alphas killed
by other
packs or a car and the rest of the pack raises the pups ... Killing
their own
pack member is not typical, nor is it unheard of. But the subordinates
ganging
up like that and then rearing her pups afterward is certainly
unrecorded."
Smith says it looks like four females - the alpha, the beta, another
subordinate and the omega wolf, at the bottom of the pecking order -
had pups
at three different dens. Now, he says, it appears they have all brought
their
pups to the main den.
Multiple den sites for one pack is unique in itself and a testament to
the
abundant food in Yellowstone. But was this alpha's behavior fracturing
the
pack? Did the Druids' survival depend on eliminating her?
"We'll never get inside a wolf's head. That's the beauty of studying
nature,"
Smith says.
No one knows how many puppies are in that den or how many will survive.
We'll
check back with Smith in six weeks, when the new Druids emerge from the
big
den.
----------