Yellowstone Wolf: Tracking the Packs logo

Yellowstone Wolf: Tracking the Packs

Yellowstone's wolf packs—Rose

The Rose Creek was one of the original packs translocated to Yellowstone in the 1995 reintroduction efforts. An alpha pair (009F and 010M) was released with a pup (007F). The pup dispersed and paired up with a male from the Crystal Creek pack (002M) in 1996. After 010M was killed near Red Lodge, MT a month after his release from the acclimation pen, 009F was feeding 8 new pups without the support of any pack-members. They were therefore relocated back into the acclimation pen to avoid livestock depredations. After her second release, wolf 009F paired with a yearling from the Crystal Creek pack (008M) and established their new territory in Lamar Valley. In 1997, 3 females in the pack bred and produced 22 pups but only 9 survived to the end of the year. Because of her reproductive success, 009F has been described as having provided the greatest genetic contribution to the Yellowstone wolf population. Some of her offspring became alphas of other packs including the Druid Peak pack (021M) and the Leopold pack (007F). In 1998, alpha female 009F and wolf 018F shared a den, but the following year wolf 009F dispersed from the pack while wolf 018F became the new alpha female. Because the pack no longer consisted of any original Rose Creek pack members, the pack was renamed Rose Creek II. With some territory overlap between the Rose Creek and Druid Peak packs, interspecific conflicts resulted in the Rose Creek territory shifting to the northwest. After the alpha female (018F) disappeared in November 2012, a new alpha female (190F) emerged. This pack began spending increasing amounts of time outside of the park and was last located by Yellowstone Wolf Project personnel in the Gallatin National Forest in September 2004.

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