A wolf for all seasons

 kw: book reviews, nonfiction, wolves, yellowstone, biographies

He was old for an alpha wolf. About 8 years old; that's late 60's in wolf years. But that is the age of Wolf 302 when he became the alpha wolf of the newly-formed Blacktail Pack. Wolf packs in Yellowstone are named for geographic features in their territory. The presence of Blacktail Creek in their territory made it a valuable one, but not a prime location such as a larger pack might hold.

In The Redemption of Wolf 302: From Renegade to Yellowstone Alpha Male, by Rick McIntyre, we find the biography of this wolf and a partial biography of the Druid Peak Pack, with which 302 was associated for much of his life. In this image, of the Druid Peak wolves, he is the black wolf near center.

He was a lover, not a fighter. Contrary to the stereotype, the alpha male does not father all the pups in "his" pack. He may try to, and will spend a lot of time "pinning" the lower-ranking wolves, and chasing off (sometimes killing) visiting males doing a little out-breeding. But the alpha female actually rules the pack, and females choose their mates. Among wolves, that frequently means that a particular litter might have two, three or more fathers. Wolf 302 was popular with the female wolves all his life, which meant he got more than the usual amount of critical attention from alpha wolves in all directions, particularly in his own pack.

302 was a late bloomer, learning responsibility only after he was a couple of years older than the average life span of a wild wolf (4.5 years). But learn it he did, such that when the waning of a couple of packs' membership opened up a territory a sufficient distance from the one claimed by Druid Peak Pack, he and few others, including three females, formed the Blacktail Pack. He was a stellar alpha during his short "reign", less than a year.

It would be a disservice to you for me to try to present a comprehensive overview of 302's life. That is Rick McIntyre's job, and he does it very, very well. I find that this is the third book by this author about the Yellowstone wolves, of a total of five. I guess I have some book-finding to do.

P.S. I commend the author, either for employing an excellent copy editor, or for having a grammatical education at least the equal of mine. I found no typos or other solecisms.