Wolf 1057, whose foot froze during capture, was a member of a pack of 10 to 13 wolves, and was seen with the pack on January 13 and 18. After that she was usually found alone, although on at least five occasions she was with one or more wolves:
_No. of_ _Period_ _observations_ _Associations_
Jan. 13 1 10 other wolves Jan. 14-17 1 None Jan. 18 1 10 or 11 other wolves Jan. 19-29 2 None Jan. 30 1 1 other wolf Jan. 31 to Feb. 2 2 None Feb. 3-4 2 2 other wolves Feb. 5 1 1 other wolf Feb. 6-13 6 None Feb. 14 1 3 other wolves Feb. 15-22 5 None Feb. 23 1 10 to 13 other wolves Feb. 24 to Apr. 24 6 None
February 23 she was with the pack at a kill in her usual area, and although the pack left that night, 1057 remained near the kill the next day. Presumably this animal would have traveled with pack if she could have.
No. 1059 was part of a pack that included three to five members (fig. 26). From January 25, the first time she was observed after release, through April 2, the animal was seen 19 times with two other wolves, eight times with at least three others, and eight times with four others. She was never seen alone until April 17; both times after this when she was seen, May 9 and 21, 1059 was also alone.
Some insight into the fluctuating size of this pack was obtained on February 27 when the five animals were followed for 2 hours. During that time two members (one of which was larger than the other) often lagged behind the other three by as much as a mile. These two romped and played considerably, with one carrying a stick or a bone part of the time. Eventually they caught up again to the other three. The behavior of the two lagging wolves would be consistent with the hypothesis that they were either pups or a courting pair of adults. In either case, they seemed to be an actual part of the pack even though they temporarily traveled separately.
[Illustration: _Figure 26.--One of the radiotagged wolves was a member of this pack of five. (Photo courtesy of L. D. Mech.)_]
The fact that 1059 was observed traveling alone three times from April 17 to May 21 may be further evidence that the pack had a den in the area at that time. The presence of a den allows individual pack members to venture off singly and return each day to a known social center, as Murie (1944) observed, so they do not need to travel with each other to maintain social bonds. Wolves in our area breed during the latter half of February (see below), and the young should be born in the latter half of April. Since dens are prepared a few weeks in advance (Young 1944), pack members might be expected to begin traveling singly in mid-April.