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practice,” reports Dr. Mech. ‘‘Whatever the means of marking territories, lone wolves are left with no real areas of their own, and most are doomed to a nomadic life of trying to avoid packs.”
Strict Nipping Order
In a simple pack with a pair of adults and their pups, the social hierarchy is a linear one. But some packs may contain as many as 36 members, including several adults. In such cases both a male and a female social ladder develops. The malp leader, however, guides thl
initiates attacks against1 trespassers.
Peripheral animals or social outcasts occupy the lowest rung of wolf society. Most large packs have at least one poor “scapewolf” on whom the others take out their frustrations. The unlucky creature is subject to sudden attacks and may have to depend on leftovers to survive.
In the author’s opinion, such an arrangement is beneficial to the survival of the pack. Instead of all members suffering malnutrition during a shortage of prey such as caribou or moose, or because of over-population in the pack, the bottom members go on short rations, leaving the dominant individuals in good health.
Lone wolves may be the losers from the bottom of the pack driven to solitude when the food supply gets low and life becomes so grim there really is no alternative.
Another factor in the making of loners might be aggressiveness. When offspring mature at the age of two or three years, they may not be able to endure the discipline of the dominant animals. Instead of lingering in the shadow of their parents and being subordinated, they may just strike out on their own.
Loners do worst when wolves are least molested by man and the packs grow large. Then they are allowed no area of their own to hunt, thus weakening the loners and making them easy victims when they trespass on a pack’s territory. The loners are extras in a saturated population and are expendable.
Man Elevates Loners
But where wolves are exploited by man, or perhaps where some natural disaster such as rabies or distemper wipes out part of the population, lone wolves suddenly play an important role. By wandering endlessly, they eventually locate any unoccupied area, and if they find a loner of the opposite sex there, they may mate, settle, and form their own pack.
There’s less and less opportunity to form packs these days. Once ranging over most of North America, the gray wolf, Canis lupus, has been almost eliminated in the contiguous United States. There are perhaps 30 on Isle Royale in Michigan, but the 1,200 in Minnesota remain the only sizeable group. Estimates for Canada range from 17,000 to 28,000; Alaska may harbor as many as 15,000. activities of the pack
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