Here are the data on the Yellowstone “mid-year” wolf packs — the pack names and number of adults, pups, total pack size. Finally a numeric ID has been assigned to the pack.
Yellowstone National Park = 143 wolves; 14 packs (13 packs producing 76 pups) [at least 12 potential breeding pairs). Northern Range 1) Swan Lake- 2, 6, 8; 2) Leopold- 8, 11, 19; 3) 536F Group- 4, 8,12; Hellroaring- 4, 4, 4; 5) Agate- 7, 6, 13; 6) Slough- 8, 0, 8; 7) Druid- 4,11,15; Non- Northern Range 8 ) Mollie’s- 5, 6, 11; 9) Yellowstone Delta- 6, 5,11; 10) Bechler- 3, 5, 8; 11) Snake River Group- 2, 7, 9; 12) Gibbon Meadows- 7, 5,12; 13) Hayden Valley- 4, 2, 6; 14) Cougar Creek- 3, 0, 3; Total: 67, 76, 143.
I’m not sure why the “536F group” is not regarded as a pack because they have eight pups. There might be the belief that they will still rejoin the Leopold Pack from which they came. I don’t think they will. I am not sure why the new pack near the south entrance is called the Snake River group, rather than “pack.”
The Cougar Creek II Pack is regarded as a non-Park pack although it denned in Daly Creek at the extreme NW boundary of Yellowstone Park. There is also a new pack, the Eagle Creek Pack, just across the Yellowstone River between Gardiner and Jardine.
As I mentioned in an earlier story, the Park wolf population is up this year, after the huge decline of the last year, but there are still fewer wolves than in 2003 and 2004.