Audio Postcard - Winter Wolves

A howling wolf — Alpha male (712) of the Canyon pack in the Lower Geyser Basin
NPS / Jim Peaco

Winter Wolves

It's wolf mating season here at Yellowstone, which also means it's the peak howling season. Biological Technician Rick McIntyre puts this ethereal winter sound into perspective within the history of Yellowstone.

Credit / Author:

NPS & MSU Acoustic Atlas/Jennifer Jerrett

Date created:

02/11/2014

Audio Transcript

They’re howling at 7:32.
(Wolf howls)
One of the things I often think about when we hear wolves howling is, um, I’m sure you know the story, was the last of the Yellowstone wolves was killed in 1926 about a half-mile from where we’re standing and so, for any visitor that had come to Yellowstone from 1926 to 1995, when wolves were brought back and reintroduced and reestablished, I’m sure they had a great experience visiting the world’s first national park and they would have seen a lot of great stuff, but there’s one thing they missed out on. There would have been an unnatural silence here.
(Raven calls)
But, luckily, we realized what a big mistake that was and figured out how to rectify it. So, we’re experiencing that right now, that silence is over.
(Wolves howling)
I’m Rick McIntyre. I work for the park service in Yellowstone National Park and my title is biological technician.
This is Yellowstone National Park. Thanks for listening.