Mollies Alpha Male Found Dead
With great sadness I report the passing of the Mollies alpha male (sorry, his number escapes me now), the mate of the black 779F. 779F took up with the unknown grey male about two years ago and they have produced two litters of pups, along with successfully raising the 5 pups that had been born earlier that year, possibly to her mother, 486F. 486F died of natural causes, wolf on wolf it is believed, in the Fall of 2013, during the government shutdown and shortly after I had been able to spend time watching her on a carcass in Pelican Valley. At this time I witnessed 486F taking a large leg assembly, with great effort, back to the rendezvous area. She had lost her alpha male earlier in the year when he was killed while hunting bison.
One of the original 5 pups died after being collared in early 2014. It is believed that the pup had not fully recovered from the drug given for the collaring process and was possibly killed by a coyote before making it back to the pack.
779 and her mate went on to have 6 pups of their own last year and when they travelled to Lamar Valley over the winter of 2014-2015 several times, all surviving yearlings and pups travelled with them, for a count of 12. At one point three pack members were injured and limping and it was believed that they might have gotten hurt while trying to hunt bison in the Pelican Valley. Bison is about the only food source down south in the Winter and they are very dangerous to hunt. One pup, a palish brown color, seemed to have a permanent injury but did quite well keeping up with the pack. The pack appeared to be in Lamar for food, rather than conflict. Although, at one point they did approach the Lamar den area, very close to denning time and it is believed that they only turned away after hearing the Lamar pups howling when they were returning from Cache Creek but just traveling through after their mom, 926 took up with the Prospect boys. It was one of those moments when it felt like a miracle had just happened for the Lamars. The Mollies left the next day – it was time for 779 to have her own pups. The alpha male and a few others returned one more time.
This year the Mollies had 6 pups and to my knowledge, they are all still surviving. This could have changed but I have not heard any different.
Doug Smith found the alpha male next to an elk carcass, meaning that he died during a successful hunt and of natural causes.
Expect big changes for the Mollies this year. Hopefully, they will remain in Pelican Valley. The Mollies, at 17 wolves, is the largest pack in the park at this time. But, some dispersal will no doubt begin taking place in the coming months.
It is always sad to lose a wolf but when they die of natural causes it makes things just a little easier.
Never count on nature to be the same tomorrow as it is today.
Alpha male is the grey to the far left. No close shots of the pack – they like to hang out on high hills and look down on everything.
A theory has been discussed about the possibility that this male could be a son of 06. Not sure if this is a real possibility or wishful thinking. I do not believe that they have received any DNA results on the wolves in quite some time but the Wolf Project is looking for ways to resolve this issue. If this was a son of 06, then doubly sad. But, he did a great job while he was here.
Here are several images taken this past winter during the Mollies pack visits to Lamar. On one of those mornings, in the images of the pack moving up the hill, we were looking for wolves and I went up to Lamar. I had looked all about, across the way before turning to look behind me at an old carcass site. What a thrill it was to find a whole pack of wolves! Just amazing feeling. And, when I told everyone, that was how I said it – I have a pack of wolves.
Deby
