Another season in Yellowstone. We are certainly grateful. Smoke in the air early from fires out west.
It is such a pleasure to be able to watch the Junction Butte Puppies!
Wolves in Yellowstone are usually pregnant by late January or early February. The pups are born in April after the mother has chosen her den. Like many myths about wolves the alphas are not the only ones to mate. The Junction Butte Pack had three mothers this year but two lost their litters to disease. The gray female 907F (the number of her collar) had 7-8 puppies. The puppies cannot regulate their own temperature at birth so the mother must stay with them and keep them warm. The mother and puppies are dependent on other members of the pack to bring them food or they risk starvation.
After the pups get too big for the den they are moved out, in May sometime, to a babysitting area near the den site. The mother has the aid of babysitters that stay with the puppies and keep an eye on them. Many times the yearlings love to be babysitters and stay with and play with the pups.
In this video a babysitter, possibly the uncollared black alpha female, watches over and plays with the puppies early one morning at dawn.
This video was filmed a mile and half away from the puppies.