Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Mammoth Campground, Yellowstone

A very crazy day with the wolves, but, unfortunately, no pictures.

Apparently all the pups in this den have either died, been killed or carried away. Nobody is quite sure of the fates of several.

2 we know are dead. One we watched get buried by one of the female wolves. Another was eaten by this same wolf, which is done with dead pups. 2 were carried down into a gully by one of the male wolves and were never seen again. These 2 are also presumed to be dead.

3 more were carried off into a forest by the same female that buried the one. These we don't know their fate. There is lots of specuation, and the experts are baffled as well as us casual watchers. Was it revenge by the female for getting beaten badly by the other females? Was something else happening and she was taking her pups away for safety? Were they sick? Nobody knows.

It's likely we'll never know exactly what or why this happened.