The acceptance of a new breeding male into a wild wolf pack

Abstract

The acceptance of an unfamiliar male wolf (Canis lupus) into a wolf pack after the recent death of the pack's alpha male was observed and filmed at close range in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, U.S.A. A 2½-year-old dispersing male from a neighboring pack was accepted as a new pack member over the course of a 6-h interaction. This observation involved stereotyped behaviors and canid body posturing in association with dominance/submission, play solicitation, and courtship. Although documented before via radiotelemetry, this interaction marks the first direct observation of a wild wolf pack accepting and incorporating a strange wolf as a breeder and pack leader.