Ecological Studies of the Timber Wolf in Northeastern MinnesotaMech, L. David
Science
Ecological Studies of the Timber Wolf in Northeastern Minnesota
Mech, L. David
Deer -- Minnesota; Gray wolf -- Behavior -- Minnesota; Gray wolf -- Ecology -- Minnesota
"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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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