[13] R. A. Rausch. Personal correspondence to L. D. Mech, 1967.
The largest pack seen in our study area included 13 members, and there
apparently were at least two such packs. Although larger packs than
this have been reported, any group containing more than 8 to 10 members
is unusually large (Mech 1970).
Wolf sociology is a complex subject and is still not well understood,
so the following detailed observations of the associations between our
radiotagged wolves and others are given. Associations are defined as
relationships in which two or more wolves relate in a close, positive
manner.
As mentioned earlier, 1051 may or may not have been associated with
other wolves when he was captured. However, although this animal was
observed 55 times throughout winter and spring, only twice was he seen
associating with another wolf. Probably the same individual was
involved each time, because the location was about the same (the
vicinity of the juncture of Aitkin, Carlton, and St. Louis Counties).
The first occasion was on April 3. Wolf 1051 in the previous week had
moved 46 miles straight line distance from the northeast. He was then
observed lying peacefully within 15 feet of another wolf near a freshly
killed deer. The very proximity of the two animals implied a positive
relationship. On April 7, 10 and 14, 1051 was seen 1 mile, 10 miles,
and 8 miles from the kill and was alone each time.
However, on April 17, 1051 was back in the general vicinity of the
kill, and he and another wolf were resting on an open hillside about
100 feet from each other. As we descended for a closer look, the
smaller animal arose and headed to the larger, presumably 1051 because
he had not been disturbed by the aircraft. The larger wolf did not
arise for several seconds, but eventually followed the other into the
woods. No tail raising or other expressive posturing was seen in either
wolf. One week later 1051 was 26 miles northwest of the kill traveling
alone.
Wolf 1053 was never seen less than 80 yards from another wolf, and
there was no evidence that she ever associated with a conspecific. Even
when she was seen 80 yards from the other wolf, both were resting, and
when the strange wolf left, 1053 made no attempt to accompany or follow
it.
No. 1055 apparently had been traveling with another wolf when caught on
January 5, and tracks showed that the individual had remained near her
until we arrived to handle her. Tracks found on January 7 and 10
suggested that 1055 was with another animal, but that animal was not
seen during any of the six times 1055 was observed through February 1.
However, from February 5 to 19, 1055 was with another wolf on eight of
the 12 times she was seen. The two animals were observed resting,
traveling, hunting, and feeding together. On February 20, and
thereafter, 1055 was alone all 14 times she was seen.
It is possible that 1055's associate was killed between February 19 and
20. About March 6, a 63-pound male wolf pup was found dead (by Mr.
Charles Wick, USDA Forest Service) within about 50 feet of a highway
and less than a mile from where 1055 and her associate were seen on
February 19. Because of the snow conditions, it was judged that the
wolf had been killed (probably by an automobile) sometime in February.
Wolf 1057, whose foot froze during capture, was a member of a pack of
10 to 13 wolves, and was seen with the pack on January 13 and 18. After
that she was usually found alone, although on at least five occasions
she was with one or more wolves:
_No. of_
_Period_ _observations_ _Associations_
Jan. 13 1 10 other wolves
Jan. 14-17 1 None
Jan. 18 1 10 or 11 other wolves
Jan. 19-29 2 None
Jan. 30 1 1 other wolf
Jan. 31 to Feb. 2 2 None
Feb. 3-4 2 2 other wolves
Feb. 5 1 1 other wolf
Feb. 6-13 6 None
Feb. 14 1 3 other wolves
Feb. 15-22 5 None
Feb. 23 1 10 to 13 other wolves
Feb. 24 to Apr. 24 6 None
February 23 she was with the pack at a kill in her usual area, and
although the pack left that night, 1057 remained near the kill the next
day. Presumably this animal would have traveled with pack if she could
have.
No. 1059 was part of a pack that included three to five members (fig.
26). From January 25, the first time she was observed after release,
through April 2, the animal was seen 19 times with two other wolves,
eight times with at least three others, and eight times with four
others. She was never seen alone until April 17; both times after this
when she was seen, May 9 and 21, 1059 was also alone.
Some insight into the fluctuating size of this pack was obtained on
February 27 when the five animals were followed for 2 hours. During
that time two members (one of which was larger than the other) often
lagged behind the other three by as much as a mile. These two romped
and played considerably, with one carrying a stick or a bone part of
the time. Eventually they caught up again to the other three. The
behavior of the two lagging wolves would be consistent with the
hypothesis that they were either pups or a courting pair of adults. In
either case, they seemed to be an actual part of the pack even though
they temporarily traveled separately.
[Illustration: _Figure 26.--One of the radiotagged wolves was a member
of this pack of five. (Photo courtesy of L. D. Mech.)_]
The fact that 1059 was observed traveling alone three times from April
17 to May 21 may be further evidence that the pack had a den in the
area at that time. The presence of a den allows individual pack members
to venture off singly and return each day to a known social center, as
Murie (1944) observed, so they do not need to travel with each other to
maintain social bonds. Wolves in our area breed during the latter half
of February (see below), and the young should be born in the latter
half of April. Since dens are prepared a few weeks in advance (Young
1944), pack members might be expected to begin traveling singly in
mid-April.
Some information on social relations within our radiotagged pack of
five was also obtained. One of the members could often be
distinguished from the others by its reddish cast and this individual
appeared to be the pack leader or alpha male (Schenkel 1947). In
urinating, this animal lifted his leg, a position seen almost
exclusively in males. Except for only two temporary occasions, this
animal always headed the pack, which usually traveled single file. The
second wolf in line generally was noticeably small, possible a female,
and the third wolf was twice identified as 1059 on the basis of
sightings of her collar.
The leader often gained a lead on the other wolves, especially during a
chase (see below), much as reported for a lead wolf on Isle Royale
(Mech 1966a). Upon returning to the lagging members of the pack, this
animal usually held his tail vertically, an expression of social
dominance (Schenkel 1947). On two occasions he led chases against
strange wolves and demonstrated the highest motivation (see below).
The leader was also the most active in his reactions when scent posts
were encountered. Because the function of scent-marking behavior is
still unknown, it is important that detailed descriptions of the
natural behavior of free-ranging wolves around scent posts be made
available (fig. 27). Thus the following excerpt from field notes by
Mech dated February 27, 1969, is presented:
[Illustration: _Figure 27.--Feces, urine, and scratching in a
conspicuous spot indicate a wolf "scent post." (Photo courtesy of
L. D. Mech.)_]
"When they [the three wolves] came to a small frozen pond,
where the wolf trail [which they had been following]
branched and there were some packed down areas, they became
quite excited [fig. 28]. This was especially true of the
reddish wolf. He nosed several spots, and scratched around
them. Usually his tail was vertical. He defecated at one
spot, and right afterwards another wolf did. After about 2
minutes that pack went on.
[Illustration: _Figure 28.--A pack of wolves investigating a scent
post. The raised tails indicate their excitement. (Photo courtesy of
L. D. Mech.)_]
"About 15 minutes later the 2 'satellite' wolves arrived at
this spot, hesitated, nosed around but continued on after
less than a minute.
"The three wolves meanwhile came to a junction of 2 logging
roads. There they nosed around, scratched, and acted much as
described above. Again the reddish wolf was most active and
had its tail up.
"When the last 2 wolves came to this spot, they nosed
around, ran back and forth, and 1 defecated. They then
headed on a different branch of the trail than the first 3
had gone on just 10 minutes before.
"The first 3 wolves meanwhile were running along a logging
road but eventually they circled and one other than the
reddish one headed across a swamp toward the last 2. Then
the reddish one and the other followed this one, and they
met the last 2 on a ridge. There was the usual tail wagging,
then all headed off together in a new direction. They passed
the first scent post again and there was some nosing by the
reddish wolf but little hesitation.
"When they traveled, one wolf lagged behind by 150 yards.
The wolf just ahead of it had its tail vertical part of the
time, as did the reddish leader.
"Soon the pack came upon another area packed with wolf
tracks on a pond. There they followed every little trail,
nose to the ground, wagged tails, grouped together often,
chased each other, rolled over, etc. for 6 minutes. The
reddish animal had tail up most of the time.
"The wolves continued on, and we left them about 1 mile S.W.
of the S.W. arm of Bald Eagle Lake [at 6:05 p.m.]."
Unfortunately it was not known whether the trails that the wolves were
following were their own or those made by other wolves.
Significant aspects of the above observation are (1) the spirited
initiative of the leader, (2) the amount of time spent in scratching,
urinating, and defecating, (3) the decision of the last two wolves to
take a different route from that of the first three even though their
goal seemed to be to catch up to the first three, and (4) the fact that
the scent posts were located at trail junctions. In the last regard, we
often noted from the ground that wolves urinated at the junction of
newly formed human trails heading perpendicularly from roads they were
following.
Copulation in wolves was only observed once during our study, on
February 19, 1969. Two members of a group of four were seen coupled for
2 minutes on Kekekabic Lake. On Isle Royale, which is at the same
latitude, copulations were witnessed on February 21, 24 and 27 (Mech
1966a).
On April 17, a den west of Big Moose Lake known to have been used at
least intermittently for 13 years was seen from the air to have fresh
activity of some kind in the snow in front of it, and on April 24 we
saw a wolf at the mound. A few days later, two local human residents
unaware of our interests approached this den and looked in. An adult
wolf, presumably the bitch, leaped over their heads and fled the area.
The men then dug up the den and removed six pups whose eyes had not yet
opened.