Not a
morning of our Yellowstone adventure goes by without spotting wolves. How
wonderful to view these intelligent, social and resilient animals in their
natural habitat, just doing their thing.
The first pack we see does not really
do much of anything except sleep. We get excited when one of the wolves lifts
its black head. Through the spotting scope I can see its pointed ears
silhouetted against the snow before it drops its head back down to the ground
for some more snoozing. Another ruffle of excitement occurs when we spot two
grey wolves in the same pack wander in from the left before they plunk
themselves down to sleep. This particular pack (Junction Butte) consists of 12
wolves including six pups, but from our long distance we only see a few of the
animals.
The same
day we spot another pack. This is Mollie’s Pack, which consists of 16 wolves.
They are pretty sleepy too. Their most dynamic activity while we watch them
comprises getting up, re-grouping a bit and then lying down again. They lie in
a huddle, except for one that seems ostracized and lies at a distance from the
rest. This pack also includes animals with various colour shades. Although the wolves
in Yellowstone are grey wolves (Canis lupus), about half of the population is
actually black. They carry the K allele for melanism (opposite of albinism)
carried over from domesticated dogs. Interesting genetics, eh?
The next
day we see Mollie’s pack again. This time the wolves are busy eating. Sometime
during the night or early morning they have killed an elk. From a distance we
can see the antlers of the carcass and the wolves tugging on the meat.
In the above photo there are at least eight wolves, five of whom are black. If you look closely you can see the elk antlers sticking up in the bottom right of the scene.
One wolf liberates a huge chunk of meat – about the size of a good roast beef – and ambles over to a wolf lying a few metres away and not engaged in feeding. It is almost as if the wolf with the hunk of meat intends to share with its best friend and no one else.
Young,
light-coloured wolves leave the dinner table to play. They romp and jostle
with each other like domesticated dogs.
I took the photos of the wolves with my iPhone through the spotting scope. This involves standing so perfectly still that breathing is almost impossible. In the above shot there are at least seven wolves scattered here and there. Two black wolves are at the carcass and a light-coloured wolf is approaching. A light wolf sits to the far left and three black ones are behind and to the right.
