[9] Minimum area method (Mohr 1947).
[10] Before dispersal.
[11] See text and figure 19.
[12] Pack of five.
[Illustration: _Figure 19.--Locations and range of wolf 1051. Lines are
NOT travel routes; rather they merely indicate sequence of locations.
Only selected lakes are shown._]
From February 26 until April 24 the movements of 1051 were strongly
indicative of dispersal (fig. 20). His average weekly straight line
move during that period was 25 miles (compared with 6 miles per week
before this period), and until March 14 he maintained an almost
straight south-southwest heading to a location west of the town of
Castle Danger. After that the animal traveled a series of
northwest-southwest alternations that on April 3 took him east of Big
Sandy Lake to a point 129 miles southwest of where he had begun the
dispersal. There he remained for about 2 weeks, but between April 17
and 24 he traveled 26 miles northwest. We last saw him at 3:30 p.m. on
April 24 heading northwest through a swamp 15 miles southeast of Grand
Rapids, approximately 122 miles from where he had started. The total of
straight line distances between 16 consecutive pairs of locations taken
at intervals of from 1 to 8 days was 226 miles, which is the minimum
distance the wolf traveled during his dispersal.
[Illustration: _Figure 20.--Dispersal of wolf 1051. Lines merely
indicate sequence of locations. Only selected lakes are shown._]
We observed 1051 for distances of up to 5 miles during these travels;
he maintained a steady trot that seemed faster than usual, and he
appeared intent on heading in a straight line. He did chase deer
during his travels, and twice was seen feeding on carcasses. In the
area where he remained for about 2 weeks, he was twice seen closely
associated with another wolf. This relationship will be discussed
later.
An extensive search was made for 1051's signals on May 2 in an area of
at least 50 miles radius from his last known location, but it was
unsuccessful. On each subsequent tracking flight, the wolf's frequency
was also monitored with no success. Possible explanations for the loss
of the signal from this wolf include the following: (1) premature
expiration of the transmitter, (2) capture of the wolf and breakage of
the transmitter, (3) loss of the exposed antenna and consequent
reduction of range, and (4) travel of the wolf out of range of the
tracking aircraft.
During 1051's travels a number of interesting events took place: