A BIOGRAPHY OF WOLF 42

by Debbie Lineweaver

and Jason Wilson

Wolf 42 of Druid Peak Pack.  Photo by Bill Wengeler

After she wandered around the area for some minutes, she stopped, raised her nose to the sky and began howling. It was that low and easy sound.

No answer.

Then over the hill exploded six bull elk racing ahead of three other wolves, Numbers 21, 40, and 163. 21 is the alpha male, 40 the alpha female, and 163 is the lone surviving "pup" from last year, all 110 pounds of him! 42 looked up the hill and began to run to join in the chase, merging at an angle with the running wolves.

42's story in Yellowstone began in 1996 when she was reintroduced with the wolves that become known as the Druid Peak Pack. It was believed that she and 40 and 41 were sisters, 39 was their mother. 38 was added to make an alpha pair with 39. The composition of that pack has changed continually since then, but 42 and 40 remain.

That summer when 31, a dispersing male from the Chief Joseph Pack, was accepted into the Druid Peak Pack, we watched 42 and 41, then solid black and sleek, cavort with 31. Bouncing, tails wagging, running, chasing like young wolves often do. When 31 was injured and stayed in the far reaches of their territory, 42 & 41 returned to that area after the pack had gone home, to be with him, to take food to him, just out of curiosity? We don’t know and never will.

Number 42 has matured since then, and changed from pitch black to a charcoal and brown mottled color with a gray muzzle and those "raccoon" eyes. She is distinctive in many ways.

We fondly recall a sunny day during which she trotted down valley away from her pack, picking up a stick and tossing it in the air repeatedly. To add to the memory, she walked up to a bison, laid the stick in front of it and did a "play-bow" while looking at the bison! The bison did not respond! Did she think he would understand and play? Was she testing him? Was she so full-of-it she just had to do something silly?

There are the times when 40, the beautiful gray alpha female with a long, willowy tail, has dominated her intensely. Even when 39 and 41 eventually left the pack under similar conditions, 42 has endured. Why?

Now here we were, on April 9, 1999, about to imprint another scene from 42's life to our minds. As she merged with the other wolves, tail tucked and somewhat crouched in standard submissive posture, 40 broke off her chase and began to dominate 42. Soon 21 and 163 stopped chasing the elk and circled around the two females, though neither participated in the interaction. 40 pinned 42, they rolled and 42 was on her back while 40 held her. 42 yelped frequently and ran away, but 40 followed, stopping her by either jumping on her or "standing high" over her.

Crouching to the ground with 40 standing over her, 42 eventually began crawling up to lick 40's muzzle, another act of submissiveness. This seemed to have no softening effect on 40, however. Soon 42 ran down the hill and 40 raced after her, into the trees toward 42's supposed den and out of our sight. 21 and 163 took different routes into the trees. Lasting about four minutes, the interaction seemed long and intense. Of course, the questions: Since 42 was first in a submissive posture, why did 40 feel the need to impose dominance? Was 40 here to destroy her den and pups, if there were any? Is this alpha female agitated by another female starting a den out of the alpha’s den area and needs to inspect it, or does a long absence of the beta female generate a need to pull the pack back together?

Six members of the Druid Peak Pack on the move

Gradually, the other three returned "home" to the old den area. Both while 42 was with the younger ones and while alone, there were many mornings when she "spoke" incessantly, emitting mostly her low, easy howl, sometimes with a "twist" in the middle. What was she saying?  She spent a day with the "Yancey male," a common but unidentified wolf. Would she go back home or strike out on her own, away from 40 and the pack?

Resting with her head on her paws, back-lit with sunlight one morning, she gazed steadily for 15 minutes at one of those upright critters, a man sitting on a rock opposite her though an adequate distance away (we were not sure he could see her). Such concentration. Then she began to howl again; it went on for minutes. Just as it was hard to watch 40's putting her to the ground, this howling of a lone pack animal sounded forlorn. Yet we did not know for certain that she wasn’t simply saying, "I’m just fine down here and enjoying the peace and solitude!"

After more than three weeks, 42 was home at the old Druid den site! Since then, she has been with the pack, hunting, traveling, and resting with 40 and the others as pack animals usually do. Did she always intend to return? Did she find no other agreeable option, being alone or with another wolf, and was left little choice but to return?

Biologists warn, and rightly so, against anthropomorphizing.  That is, applying human emotions, values, and reasons to the behavior of other animals can be misleading. It is important to be objective enough to truly learn about wolves. Yet, we also see similarities between ourselves and other species, and therefore we feel less removed from caring about and valuing their livelihood. We think that humans have adequate intellectual capacity to accommodate both perspectives, even simultaneously!