National Geographic: White Wolf Page #3

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The rough ground is no obstacle

for an arctic wolf.

Each travels purposefully.

The pack has spread out but keeps in

touch by howling from time to time.

While the wolves are within

range of the den,

their howls are heard by the pups

and the female that watches over them.

Brandenburg, loaded with film

stock and rations,

is prepared to travel for days

to film a major hunt.

One of the advantages of working in

the high Arctic that you don't find

in lower latitudes is you have

Here the wolves could never really

get away from us and in the sense

that they were always on stage with

the lights full on.

And if we could simply keep up

with them, and had enough time,

eventually that scene could be

played out in front of us.

There are anxious moments when the

wolves are far ahead, out of sight.

Brandenburg has only their tracks

and his intuition to follow.

The wolves have traveled 30 miles

from the den, and Jim is still behind.

Finally, he catches up to the pack

as they search for a place to cross

a deep, fast-flowing river.

Again, his hopes of filming an attack

on musk oxen are crushed.

It was quite a frustrating experience

watching the wolves continue

on in the distance out of sight,

knowing that they were clearly going

on to some fairly intense action.

With summer running out,

Mech and Brandenburg decide

that a change in plan is imperative.

Rather than follow the pack,

they'll sit tight,

following all that happens right here

for the next 24 hours.

It made sense to commit a complete

Watch everything that happened,

try to film the highlights

of the behavior.

And I'd hoped to show an aspect of

a day in the life of the wolf pack,

near the den site,

their coming and going,

their interaction, their naps,

their sleeps.

Anything that might happen within

that 24 hour period.

Here comes one.

He's go hind feet

or she does, it's a female.

It's interesting,

usually they bring just the

hind quarter back, or often they do.

But I mean I've never seen them bring

the front quarters.

They may bring the whole hare.

The strategy begins to pay off

almost at once.

A small drama of pack life unfolds

within camera range

another demonstration of the way

a wolf's behavior indicates

its rank in the family unit.

It appear that as part of their

membership in the pack,

the subordinates have to bring food

home to the pups each day.

This probably helps maintain their

status in the pack.

Even when hungry themselves

the subordinates

still will deliver food to the pups.

It seems that the dominant wolves

need to show their subordinates that,

even though the underlings

have brought offerings of food,

they must not forget who's boss.

As I watched them closely,

I noticed that from time to time

subordinates would actually

steal food from the pups.

Most are young animals that are still

learning how to hunt themselves

so this surplus food forms an

important part of their diet.

Wish I knew which male that was.

I think it's the one that limps.

Left shoulder's the one

that's limping, though.

He's got a little limp

in his left hind leg

today as well as his left front.

Telling each of the pack members

apart was always a challenge

and a difficult thing to do.

However, we were aided by the fact

that the Alpha Male usually

dominated the other

members of the pack.

And in doing so held

his tail in the air.

To keep track of individual wolves.

Mech uses names like Shaggy,

Scruffy, and Lone Ranger.

His observations show him that the

Alpha Male has another

recognition signal besides

tail waiving.

The Alpha Male was also

distinctive in that

he raised his leg when he urinated.

The Alpha Female does that as well.

This raised-leg urination is

a way of bonding

the two together in a sexual tie.

That tie is recognized by all the

other members of the pack.

It's quite warm today on

Ellesmere Island,

and the wolves,

with their shaggy coats,

may need some way of cooling

down in the bright sunlight.

Below the surface of the

tundra lies cooler soil.

The animals have little trouble

reaching it.

The softest spots are the

heathery hillsides.

I've actually watched wolves

sleep there for

as long as 18 hours at a time.

There's not much happening.

Jim, I think I'm gonna run a little

test while the light it

about the same and the wind,

And I'm also in the same position.

I'm gonna run down,

get out of sight and howl.

And I'll go quite a ways.

I'm gonna imitate a strange

wolf that's scared.

Sound good.

Yeah. I'll record what time it was

when I howled so if you get

a response here you record the time

that you get the response.

Yeah. Yeah. See you later.

Thanks. I'll see you later.

Eventually, Dave's imitations seem

to have another effect.

The pack is drawing together,

though there may be some other

cause for the excitement.

Two of the pack are waving their

tails as signals of leadership,

telling the others that

they are in charge.

Mech, however,

has seen nothing of this.

So what happened?

Soon as you howled they listened,

but no one moved.

And it was a very casual

kind of response.

What, these other two came back...

Yeah, it was the Alpha Male

and Midback came back...

OK.

With their tails up really high.

Clearly an expression of

"we're in charge'.

They had a fight down on the draw here

With one of the other females?

Couldn't see them.

Then they ran up on the hillside here

and there was a mass of wolves.

It was difficult to sort it out.

They were pinning each other.

They were growling, biting,

tails in the air.

A mass and a swirl,

a swirling of wolves right out

here in the green, green area.

And it's hard to say what...

Did the pups get in on

any of that stuff?

A little.

They were following around

but it was the big kids.

The 24 hour vigil is paying off.

Despite some long periods

of inactivity,

there is also some intriguing behavior

Another arctic hare has been brought

in for the pups,

their second of the day.

At 10 weeks old, the young wolves

are highly competitive.

When a pup is lucky enough to get a

large piece of prey

he has to run as far away as

he can to avoid having

it stolen by his litter mates.

At this point I get the impression

that no one pup dominates

the others and that all tend to get

their share of the food.

When a large chunk of meat is brought

in by a subordinate,

The Alpha pair are the first to try

and steal it.

But a tug of war develops that allows

each member of the pack

to get a portion of the food.

The hare was caught nearby.

When prey is killed too far away to

be brought back in an animal's jaws,

There is an alternative

"catch-and-carry system".

As pups are weaned from nursing

more and more of their food comes

from regurgitation by the adults.

The adults feed perhaps

miles from the pups,

carry the food in their stomach

and bring it back to the den.

As an adult approaches with a full

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