Part 9

May 16 Confirmation from aerial location that the three wolves had reunited south of Mallard Lake after May 2 split

June 19 No. 13 again separated from No. 11 and 12

July 11 Wolf No. 12 found dead, killed by automobile just before July 6, north of Amasa (T45N-R33W-Sec 17)

July 15 Wolf No. 11 moved out of Iron County for the first time since May 7, found north of Kenton (T49N-R38W-Sec 31)

July 20 Wolf No. 13 found dead from gunshot, south of Sagola, last previous location (June 27) at same location where No. 12 killed by automobile (T52N-R30W-Sec 5)

Aug. 6 Wolf No. 11 located near Wisconsin border, ¾ miles (1.2 km) east of Lac Vieux Desert, 10:15 a.m. (EDT) (T43N-R38W-Sec 9)

Aug. 13 Wolf No. 11 located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southeast of Ewen 25 miles (40.5 km) north of Lac Vieux Desert, 10:10 a.m. (EDT) (T46N-R40W-Sec 36)

Aug. 28 No locations since Aug. 13. Wolf No. 11 back in Marquette County .25 miles (0.4 km) south of Squaw Lake, a 60-mile (96.5 km) move eastward (T45N-R30W-Sec 21)

Sept. 20 No. 11 trapped and shot on Floodwood Plaine 3.1 miles (5.0 km) south of Witch Lake (T44N-R24W-Sec 11)

Habitat Use

The relative percentages of various habitats in which the translocated wolves were found during aerial locations (Table 7) did not indicate a preference for any particular habitat type. Evidently the animals chose their travel routes and ranges on some basis other than forest habitat, or at least habitat was not of any overriding importance in their movements.

Table 7. Habitat types in which the released wolves were located

-------------------------------------------------------- No. of Percent Percent Habitat Locations of Total Available -------------------------------------------------------- Northern Hardwoods 43 48.3 40.9

Northern Hardwoods- Coniferous (57) ... ...

Spruce-fir 19 21.3 17.0

Aspen-hardwoods 11 12.4 20.5

Elm-ash-maple 1 1.1 4.5

Pine 2 2.2 5.5

Oak 0 0.0 1.4

Non-commercial forests 0 0.0 2.6

-------------------------------------------------------- Other (near towns, farms, dumps) 13 14.6(8.9) 7.6 _ ____ ____

Totals 89(146) 100.00 100.0 --------------------------------------------------------

Spencer and Pfeifer 1966.

This forest type was not distinguished separately by Spencer and Pfeifer (1966), so they did not provide availability figures for it. Thus in this comparison, we did not include the 57 wolf locations that fell in the type. However in calculating percentage figures for non-forest areas (towns, farms, dumps), these 57 fixes could validly be used as representing forest locations.

Failure of Female No. 11 to Whelp

There was no sign that adult female No. 11 whelped or attempted to locate or construct a den. The usual gestation period for wolves is about 63 days (Brown 1936). Because No. 11 was seen coupled in copulation on February 12 and 16, she should have whelped between April 13 and April 21, if she had conceived. Probably she would have moved little during the preceding 2 or 3 weeks (Mech 1970). However no such changes in this animal's movements were noticed. The three wolves stayed near Kenton between April 15 and April 18 but also killed a deer during that time. They moved extensively from April 19 to May 7. The only indirect evidence that the female may have been pregnant was an observation made by a local citizen on April 5 (Table 6) who saw the three wolves and stated that the small wolf looked "fat." This would probably have been No. 11, but a full stomach could easily have been mistaken for pregnancy.

Unfortunately, neither the reproductive tract collected from No. 11 in September nor the blood sample taken in early March shed any light on the cause for the wolf's failure to produce pups. The ovaries did contain corpora albicantia, indicating that at some time the wolf had ovulated, but it could not be stated with certainty just when (R. D. Barnes, personal communication). The blood progesterone levels were more helpful. No. 11 had 3,560 picograms of progesterone per milliliter, compared to 56 picograms per milliliter for Wolf No. 10, whose reproductive tract appeared immature. This high progesterone level of No. 11 indicated that the animal had recently ovulated, but it was impossible to tell whether she was carrying any fetuses at the time the sample was taken (U. S. Seal, personal communication).

Demise of the Translocated Wolves