Wolves vary considerably in size and color. The average male weighs about 100 pounds and the female somewhat less, about 85 pounds. Their color may be almost white, black, gray, or brown. Most wolves in interior Alaska are either black or brownish like a coyote. The facial markings show some variation and there may occasionally be noticeable patterns over the rest of the body. A few wolves have a blackish saddle; one that I knew had a black robber-mask across the eyes. Individual disposition and behavior also varies. A handsome male had an extra touch of spirit in his gallop; a male parent had a dour expression and seemed, to my imagination, weighted with care. Wolves raised in captivity from puppyhood are extremely friendly.
For a den, the wolf considers an enlarged fox burrow both convenient and suitable. Dens have been found in a variety of situations. One was located on a wooded rock bluff, another was beyond timber near the top of a bluff bordering a river, and one was on a wooded island between old river channels. The four to six young, probably the average size of litter, are born the early part of May. The mother remains at home with the pups and the male provides the victuals.
At one den that I observed closely there were two extra males and an extra female with the pair. These wolves all fraternized in the most friendly manner. Before departing for the night hunt, the five would sometimes assemble in a close group, wag tails and frisk about, and sitting on haunches sing in chorus. Later in the season this group of five adults was joined by two additional males.
The following year the same pair returned to the den. They were accompanied by one of the extra males that had been at the den the previous year. The extra female and one of the bachelors set up their own housekeeping farther down the river. But when their pups were large enough to travel, they all came up the river and joined the original pair. Young and old combined added up to 15 wolves. This wolf pack was composed of two pairs, an extra adult, and 10 pups. Some of the extra wolves of the previous year were not seen—they may have been trapped or poisoned beyond the park boundaries during the winter months.
The wolf’s food varies with the seasons and the prey species available. When voles and lemmings are plentiful, the wolves may spend hours in the grass and sedge areas pouncing on them. During the summer months the ground squirrel has at times been one of the more important food items. Occasionally an unfortunate marmot is surprised and in years when rabbits are plentiful, the snowshoe rabbit becomes a food source. I have found remains of several porcupines eaten by wolves, the spine-covered hide neatly inverted.
But the wolf also, and primarily, feeds on the ungulates—the mountain sheep, caribou, and moose. Under natural conditions the relationship between the wolf and these prey species is old and tried. There is the aphorism, “nothing in nature offends nature.” In the hunting of these animals the wolf appears to be an evolutionary force in that there is a tendency for the weaker individuals to succumb.
In spring the wolf hunts the caribou calves, which early develop surprising speed, so that when a wolf chases a group of caribou, the calves race along with the adults. But after a time a weak calf, one not up to the others in endurance, may begin to drop behind, and it is this weak individual that is overtaken, an example of the elimination of the weak, the survival of the fittest. In the winter hunting, the old and weak animals are the most susceptible. It is a struggle, a testing for all, but through the ages, the sheep, moose, and caribou have survived and come down to us adapted to their particular way of life, with the wolf as one of the environmental factors.
At McKinley we have an opportunity to preserve a northern flora and fauna. But the future of the wolf is precarious because the home range of the park wolves extends beyond park boundaries into territory where the wolf has no protection, where there is a bounty on his head. The silencing of the longdrawn call of the wolf would be a tragic loss to the human spirit.
Coyote
Canis latrans incolatus
So far as known, the coyote has always been rare out in the park. Along the Nenana River, however, I frequently have heard his song. Here he seems to find conditions more favorable for his way of life. Perhaps it is the presence of the snowshoe rabbit in this low brushy country that attracts him.