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
[7] A frozen foot prevented 1057 from staying with her pack; but she
did associate with other wolves intermittently and with the whole pack
when it came by her restricted area.
The precise ages of the radiotagged wolves were unknown. All
individuals, however, had sharp unworn teeth, indicating that they
were all relatively young. No. 1051, the only male studied, had testes
2.0 cm. long and 1.5 cm. wide; their volume therefore would be less
than 4.5 cc. The small size of these testes, compared with the 7 to 28
cc. reported by Fuller and Novakowski (1955) as the volume of the
testes from wolves taken during fall, would indicate that 1051 had not
yet matured. Since the animal's testes and canine lengths were
considerably greater than those of pups caught in a later study, we
presume 1051 was 18 or 30 months old.
Two of the females, No. 1055 and No. 1059, both captured in January,
had vulvas that seemed to be beginning to swell. No. 1059 was killed by
a trapper about a year later, on January 10, 1970, and an examination
revealed that she had bred in 1969 and carried five fetuses. Sectioning
her incisors and reading the apparent annulations indicated that she
probably was 3+ or 4+ years old.[8]
Three of the wolves were basically lone individuals. One of these, No.
1051, was captured on a night when tracks of at least two other wolves
came by the trap, and this could mean that he had been part of a pack.
However, it is also possible that these were merely tracks of
non-associated wolves that were also traveling through the area. In any
case, 1051 was not seen associating with any other wolf until 4 months
after he was caught, and even then the association seemed to be
temporary and casual. It could be argued that capture, handling by
humans, or wearing a collar prevented him from regaining old
associations or making new ones. However, the wolves radiotagged by
Kolenosky and Johnston (1967) were quickly accepted back into their
packs, and so were two of ours. Thus we conclude that 1051 probably was
a lone wolf when captured.
When 1053 was trapped, her tracks were the only ones in the area, and
she was never seen closely associating with another wolf. No. 1055
probably was with another wolf when captured, as evidenced by tracks.
About a month after she was radiotagged she associated with another
wolf intermittently for about 2 weeks, after which she was only seen
alone.
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