Elk rut in Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone
(Sound on to hear bugling!) The elk rut is in full force in Mammoth, as bull #24 herds his harem of cows through the village.
The green, manicured lawns at Mammoth Village are comprised of Kentucky bluegrass that was planted when the Army was in residence. It was intended to reduce the dust around the parade grounds and throughout the dry village where wealthy visitors from the lush forests of the East often spent their first night in Yellowstone. Today, the grass is considered to be part of the Fort Yellowstone historical district, so it is irrigated and maintained - which also provides excellent elk forage at a time of year when most other grasses have dried up in preparation for winter.
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Sandhill Cranes in Yellowstone
Families of sandhill cranes are moving through Yellowstone on their fall migrations. We enjoy watching them feed on grasses and insects in open meadows and valleys. At this time of year, you might notice that some sandhill cranes are brown, while others are pale gray. The gray plumage is their typical winter plumage; cranes often preen themselves by rubbing brownish mud on their feathers with their beaks in the spring and early summer, turning their plumage brown and adding camouflage for the breeding season.
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Wolves on a bison carcass in Yellowstone
What do you notice when you watch this video? Can you tell which wolf is more dominant, and which is more subordinate? It’s amazing what you can observe when you take some time to slow down and really watch animal behavior!
We were fortunate to watch these two Junction Butte pack wolves on a bull bison carcass last week. The Junction Butte alpha male is black with gray cheeks, so we initially thought this might be him; however, while we heard folks around us calling this the alpha male, we observed how low this individual’s tail was held the entire time we watched, indicating that this is a subordinate wolf, not the alpha male. Subordinate female 1386 is also black with gray cheeks, and by carefully observing the body language and interactions between these two, we were able to correctly ID this wolf as 1386F.
Some of you may know that a wolf only gets a number if the wolf has a collar, and yet 1386F does not have a collar in this video; she lost her collar, but she is still visibly identifiable and therefore is still referred to by her research number.
A note about terminology: You may have heard that the term “alpha” is outdated. Biologists who study wolf populations elsewhere (e.g., the Great Lakes region) now favor the term “breeding” male and female instead of “alpha” male and female. In wolf populations with simple pack structures, where leadership is determined almost exclusively by who the breeding adults are in a pack that consists only of adults and their own offspring, “breeding” is a more accurate term than “alpha.” However, here in Yellowstone, pack structures are complex, and leadership is determined by a variety of factors. Often, there are multiple breeders within one pack, yet there is still clearly a dominant, or lead, female and male. The Junction Butte pack is a prime example: 1386F is decidedly NOT the lead or alpha female (as evidenced by her body language here), and yet she is a breeder most years, including this ye
Osprey chicks on nest in Yellowstone
Last week, all three osprey chicks were still on their nest in northern Yellowstone. When we checked a couple of days ago, one had fledged, and I'm sure the others will follow very soon (if they haven't already!). Mom and Dad will continue to feed and watch over the youngsters for some time after they leave the nest, but by fall, the chicks must be ready to migrate on their own. The two adults also will migrate separately from one another, and will meet up again at this nest next spring to begin the cycle again.
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Grizzly bear in Yellowstone
Grizzlies have been elusive with the hot temperatures the past few weeks, but we managed to spot this one traveling above Lamar Valley in the cool early-morning hours of our Sunrise Wolves & Wildlife tour yesterday. Many grizzlies are at high elevations right now, eating tiny Army cutworm moths, investigating whitebark pine nut crops, and staying cool during hot summer days. As temperatures cool and food resources shift over the next few weeks, some bears will return to lower elevations, and our luck with spotting them is likely to improve into the autumn.
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Wolf Pup in Yellowstone
The Junction Butte wolf pups are getting big! Yesterday, we watched them frolick and play not far from their den. They are getting more adventurous, wandering farther and farther. Most likely, they will leave the den area for good within the next few weeks.
The fact that they are still near the den is remarkable, as the Junction Butte pack has moved their pups away from the den to a summer rendezvous site in mid-June each of the past few summers, yet here we are in mid-August and they're still hanging around the den! We've been fortunate to enjoy a lot of great wolf-watching this summer, and we look forward to seeing where these "little" ones end up over the course of the fall and winter as they begin to travel with the pack, moving on to the next phase of their wolf education: learning how to hunt, how to patrol territory, and how to interact within the social structure of their family.
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Moose in Yellowstone
Here's a video of the cow moose from our tour last week. She seemed to be thoroughly enjoying munching on aquatic vegetation, keeping her head underwater for what seemed like ages before resurfacing with a mouthful of greenery. Not only is most aquatic vegetation extremely digestible, it's also richer in sodium than terrestrial vegetation is, and this may be why moose seek out aquatic vegetation throughout the summer.
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Grizzlies "see" the world through their noses, with a sense of smell that is estimated to be 7 times better than that of a bloodhound. That's why it's so important to keep food and other "smellables" tucked safely away when you're living or camping in bear country!
Bears are naturally curious and will investigate novel scents in order to discover new food sources. Once a bear learns about a good food source, whether from Mom as a cub or by exploring on its own later in life, that bear will remember that food source for the rest of its life.
[Video shows a grizzly walking through Lamar Valley, nose on the alert, smelling for food. Video was shot by Yellowstone Wildlife Profiles guide Josh while on tour.]
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Wolf pup in Yellowstone
Wolf puppy! We watched this black pup on Sunday morning. The pup was very curious about all the digging the gray adult was doing to renovate the den.
At this age, wolf pups weigh only about 7-10 lbs and have the floppy ears and "smushed" face characteristic of young animals. In the next month or so, the pups will be weaned and their facial features will start to look more adult-like, with ears standing up, forehead elongating, and nose becoming more pointed.
Many domestic dog breeds, close relatives (some biologists even say subspecies) of gray wolves, retain juvenile wolf traits into adulthood. Think about the floppy ears of many domestic dog breeds, the shorter face of a breed such as a pug, the curled tail, and the more prominent forehead, which is present even in more "wolf-like" breeds such as malamutes, huskies, and german shepherds. The retention of juvenile traits - called neoteny - indicates that most "good dogs" are genetically, morphologically, and behaviorally very similar to juvenile wolves throughout their lives. This is what makes domestic dogs good pets: They have the social communication capabilities of wolves, and yet they don't seek to become dominant over their human "pack-mates" because they see themselves as pups for their whole lives.
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Explore Yellowstone with expert local guides!
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We were blessed to be able to witness the birth of this bison calf today! Within 30 minutes of birth, the little one was up and nursing.
At this time of year, we often notice that some herds - such as this one - have several calves, while others have no calves. Biologists hypothesize that mother bison seek out other females who will give birth around the same time; this behavioral adaptation would serve to protect an individual bison calf by surrounding it with a herd saturated with calves, thus making the chances of becoming a target of predation lower for each individual. Saturation with young is a common adaptation among a wide array of animal and plant species.
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Our first red dog of this season! We saw this little one and Mom in Little America the other day.
Bears Are Out
For those who may not have heard, there are several reports of grizzly bears being spotted in Yellowstone over the last several days. A pulled a few old clips out of one of these early emergers, as I have yet to be lucky enough to find one this year. These bears are usually on the move, looking for any food source available. Usually the big males emerge first, seeking out carcasses from winter kills, digging up pocket gopher caches (like in the video), and eagerly waiting for the first green plants to emerge. Among the best places to look for them are along river corridors and melting ponds or lakes, where they hope to find carcasses that were frozen in before being completely consumed. The Blacktail Lakes is one of the first places we look, and there has been a grizzly there lately, sniffing and digging for what was probably a bison that fell through the ice this winter.
[Originally posted in March 2021.]
A look back at the Canyon Pack
Here is a look back at the well known Canyon Pack, including the female who would later be known as the "white alpha female", still brownish-white when this short piece was filmed around this time of year back in 2009 near Mammoth. The other wolves shown are probably 587 (the collared male lagging behind who would later disperse), the "white" alpha female, and "the limper", another male who was with them that year. This was filmed during the mating season (hence the sniffing) and yet 712, the male known to be paired with the alpha female at the time was not present. Perhaps he was nearby, yet the limping male was displaying dominance as indicated by an RLU (raised leg urination), something the dominant male would probably not have tolerated from another male had he been within viewing distance.
[Originally posted in February 2021.]
