This
Month in Yellowstone
Wolf Interaction
 The
interactions that you will see in the video involve these characters.
• The new alpha male of the Druid Peak Pack who we will simply
call The Alpha Male. He is black in color.
• An intruding male from another pack that is attempting to
attract a female of the Druid Pack to join him for the night to mate.
This male is also black. We will refer to him as The Intruder.
• Females from the Druid Peak Pack. Two of them are grey in
color and one is smaller and black.
The video begins with The Alpha Male and one of the females running
together. The Alpha Male howls at the rest of the Druid Peak Pack
that has moved to a location across the road. Since this new male
is unaccustomed to roads, he seems nervous about crossing it. In the
meanwhile two females who have continued to accompany him on this
side of the road wander off.
The Intruder, seeing the females alone, decides to approach them
and try to get them to play “Run and Chase,” a game that
sometimes culminates in mating. One of the females joins in the game.
The Alpha Male notices The Intruder with the females and seems uncertain
initially if it is one of the males in the Druid Peak Pack. As soon
as The Alpha Male realizes The Intruder is an outsider, he begins
running toward him at high speed with his tail raised high in the
air. This is a sign of superiority and aggression.
Instead of immediately attacking The Intruder, The Alpha Male runs
passed him and The Intruder aggressively begins chasing The Alpha
Male. When the Alpha Male seems to have run off, The Intruder turns
back toward the females. Then The Alpha Male attacks The Intruder
from behind and the females immediately join him in the attack. Outnumbered,
The Intruder decides to run away. He is followed closely by The Alpha
Male who is now in full attack mode. If The Intruder does not manage
to stay ahead of The Alpha Male, he could very well be killed.
The Alpha Male chases The Intruder across the river and then returns
to the females while The Intruder continues to run slowly away.
While it may seem as if The Intruder was totally unsuccessful in
his attempts to attract a female, nothing could be further from the
truth. That night one of the females wandered away from the other
Druids and spent the night with The Intruder. If she had decided to
stay with The Intruder, another pack would have been born. Instead
she returned to the Druids in the morning. If the mating that occurred
while she was with The Intruder leads to a litter of pups, there will
be new genes introduced into the Druid Peak Pack. While this sort
of behavior has only recently been documented by wolf biologists,
it is very likely that it has occurred as long as wolves have been
on the earth.
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