Well, it's a somewhat misleading title - it really should read "My Days Observing a Captive Wolfpack at Extreme Close Range." But hey, that doesn't have nearly the same poetry to it, does it? While I was in West Yellowstone, Montana in 2003, I spent the bulk of my days watching the wolves and grizzly bears at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. At the GWDC the bulk of the focus is on the grizzly bear, and there are several "problem bears" living at the Center, who would have otherwise had to be euthanized. (Go here to read about the Bears) But the Center also houses the Gallatin Wolf Pack - a group of six captive-born wolves living together as a fully functioning pack. As you can imagine, this is pretty fun stuff for an ElfQuest buff.

There were originally ten members of the wolfpack, and I think I saw them all at one time, years ago. But I didn't really get into studying these wolves until 2002, by which time the number had dropped to seven. By then the Center was starting to print info on each wolf, and I began to be able to recognize them by their markings. What happened to the other three wolves? It was a gruesome coup in the manner of a great Wolfrider power-struggle.

The first Alpha Female of the Gallatin Pack was the eldest wolf, Aztec. She's a year older than the other wolves (the pack is made up of cubs for four separate captive-born litters) and acted as surrogate mother to the nine cubs. But one day Luna, a jet black female, mounted an insurrection and made herself Alpha Female. (I learned all this from one of the naturalists working at the Center last year.) Luna was apparently a real bitch of an Alpha, and bullied all the females of the pack, especially Aztec, who was summarily booted down to Omega wolf. The Alpha Male, Lamar, mostly let his "mate" (I say "mate" because all the wolves are spayed and neutered, so the Alpha pair don't breed) have her way with the females, but soon even the males were chafing under Luna's leadership. Finally, one day in early 2002, the entire pack decided enough was enough. Quite possibly instigated by Alyeska, who became the new Alpha Female, the pack attacked Luna as one and fatally wounded her. The attack was over in seconds - much to the horror of a crowd of tourists watching the wolves - and Luna limped back into the den building to die. The vets couldn't save her.

Alyeska took over as the new Alpha, and two of Luna's supporters - both females - refused to accept the new order. For the safety of the entire pack, they were moved to their own enclosure on the other side of the Center. They are still there right now, but they will soon be moving - I believe to Denver - where it's hoped they'll integrate with some willing bachelors to form a new pack. And that was the state of the pack a year ago, when I first started paying more attention to the wolves than the grizzly bears.

Lamar - Alpha Male
Alyeska - Alpha Female
Hayden - Beta Male
Lakuna - Beta Female
Naya - Lower-ranking Female
Granite - Lower-ranking Male
Aztec - Omega Female

I had a great time in 2002, watching the wolves off-and-on for four days. The wild wolves in Yellowstone Park itself were eluding me, so I consoled myself by standing five feet from these wolves, who I still refer to as a "my woof-puppies." My favorite wolves were Hayden and Granite, the two males jockeying for position as Beta. Hayden was much larger - larger even than Lamar, the Alpha, but Granite was always pushing the envelope. He'd tease Hayden and provoke him into a chase or a wrestle. It was mostly all in good fun, though there were a few angry growls and barks. My favorite memory is of feeding time one evening. The feedings for the wolves were advertised on the program then (they aren't anymore) and we got into position to watch the wolves devour the slabs of elk meat. Granite got a piece and lay down to eat. Hayden came over and wanted it. Granite growled and bared his teeth. Hayden just stood in front of Granite and stared. Granite continued to growl. And Hayden just stared. And stared. And finally Granite let him have the meat.

I returned to the GWDC on June 18th 2003, ready to see my puppies again. But I got a bit of a shock. And now there were six.

Lamar had died of liver problems  in March, and now Hayden has come into his own as Alpha Male. What's more, the girls have been busy too. In the fall of 2002, Naya bumped Alyeska down the chain of command and took over as Alpha Female. But by the time I got there, Naya was down to Beta, and Lakuna had taken over as Alpha. The power shift is still very recent, for both the males and the females, and it's amazing to watch them try out their new roles.

Hayden - Alpha Male
Lakuna - Alpha Female
Granite - Beta Male
Naya - Beta Female
Alyeska - Lower-ranking Female (and not happy about it)
Aztec - Omega Female

Alyeska does not seem happy to be the lower-ranked female, and often seems discontent. I noticed a couple times on the 18th and 19th that she and Naya would brush by each other, and Naya would growl at Alyeska for not taking a suitable posture. She really carries herself like a higher-ranking wolf, and it probably doesn't help that Naya's so much smaller. But Naya's got spunk, like I said, and once she gave Alyeska a good bark to put her in her place.

Aztec is still the Omega, and still keeps mostly to herself. She seems to get along well with Naya and Hayden, but she makes it a policy to give any approaching wolves a wide berth. On the 19th, I saw one of the females - either Alyeska or Lakuna - charge at Aztec and chase her away from the water trough. Poor Aztec. But she might not be as lonely as she looks. She seems quite happy to quietly poke around the enclosure and sniff the flowers around the fence. On the evening of the 19th, I saw her to a little dance, jumping up on her hind legs and doing a quarter-turn in the air. It might have been just to get rid of the bugs that were descending, but it looked to me like the kind of happy-dance dogs do when they get an adrenaline rush they just can't hold in. Certainly she seemed to be grinning afterwards, not just panting but grinning.

Someone lost their plastic water bottle over the edge of the lookout post, and Hayden caught it up. Since it was empty, the naturalists decided to let the wolves keep it for a while. Later I saw Naya chewing on it contentedly. (Should I take this time to say that "Naya" is a brand of bottled water in Canada? Naw... no bad punning today.) Several days later the water bottle was a flat sheet of plastic.

I saw the wolves howl once on June 18th - a passing siren set them off, and then heard them again on the evening of the 19th while I was walking towards the Center. It's amazing listening to the different notes each one makes. They all get together and start yipping and barking, and then Hayden throws his head back and howls, and one by one they all join in for several long minutes. Then it's much yipping, muzzle-licking, and general cavorting for a good five minutes afterwards.

The wolves were very active on the evening of the 19th, and I saw Granite teasing Hayden. He bounced and lunged at Hayden, and refused to assume a submissive posture. Hayden kept trying to grab Granite and put him in his place, and Granite wrestled out of the way. He bounced and growled and for a moment it looked a little serious. Then he suddenly fell into a play crouch and took off across the enclosure, with Hayden and the others in hot pursuit. It was all good fun for a while. Later Hayden lay down by his favorite fallen tree and Lakuna and one of the other females cuddled up. The submissive female - it might have been Alyeska - rolled over on her back and she and Hayden licked each other's muzzles for a while.

A little while later, Granite and Hayden got into another scrape. At first it was the same growling and mock posturing. And suddenly they were in an actual fight. Hayden wrestled Granite to the ground and bit his throat - not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to pin him. Granite tried to fight and Hayden kept biting him and holding him down. Then Granite squirmed free and took off. Hayden pursued, and snapped at his hind leg. He missed the hind leg and got the tail, but the end result was the same, and Granite went down. Hayden was on him again, holding his front leg in his mouth and holding Granite down. Granite submitted, and Hayden let him go. I went and told the nearby naturalist, who seemed quite surprised by the turn of events. She said that Granite might well be testing the waters to make a bid for Alpha himself. It will be interesting to see if I come back next year to find Granite leading the pack. It wouldn't be surprising if Alyeska or Naya made another bid at Alpha Female.

I was away from West Yellowstone and my wolves for two days while we stayed at Lake Yellowstone Lodge. At nearly eight thousand feet above sea level it was cold, and it snowed on the night of the 21st and all day on the 22nd. Happy Summer Solstice everyone! No actual wild wolves sighted in the park. No grizzly bears either, they're all hiding up in the forest, I guess. But we did see lots of bison, completely unfazed by the apoplectic tourists.

We made a swing back through West Yellowstone on the 23rd, as the mountain pass we expected to cross was closed due to snow and felled trees. And I got another hour with the bears and wolves. It was the early evening and the wolves were just starting to wake up from their afternoon nap. Hayden and Lakuna moved down to the far side of the enclosure and basked in the grass like a pair of reigning monarchs, while the other wolves prowled, and Aztec amused herself by doing her little pirouette-dance. Alyeska did a really funny thing - she would stand under the little lookout posts, about eight feet below us, and whine at us. I don't know whether she was nervous, or whether she was just hoping for handouts. Aztec jumped on Hayden's back trying to get him to play with her, but he ignored her. Bad Hayden.

I think Granite took a shock from the little electric wire around the fence - a hard thing to do since the wolves are very adept at moving around the wire without touching it. He hunched over and put his tail between his legs and then kept flailing like there was an itch he had to scratch. But a minute later he was happy as a clam  (Now of Wolf-Thought? Naw - their memories are too sharp. They know that wire. I saw Aztec carefully sticking her head under it to eat a dandelion.) Naya had a run-in with Lakuna - she wouldn't prostrate herself enough, I guess. Lakuna had her pinned and Naya was licking her muzzle submisively, but also yipping, growling and pawing at Lakuna. "Back off, bitch - I'm not grovelling too far for you." Just a little reminder, I guess, that Naya was the Alpha Female briefly.

Finally it was time to leave. The wolves kept looking like they would start up a howl, but no such luck. Ah well. Next time.