Wolves are highly social animals th

Wolves are highly social animals that live in packs. A pack is an extended family group
comprised of a breeding (alpha) male and female and their subordinate offspring from one or
more years. The alpha wolves decide when the pack will travel and hunt, and normally are the
first to eat at a kill.
Generally, only the male and female alphas of the pack will mate. Wolf packs typically have one
litter of pups per year unless the younger females also breed. Mating typically occurs between
January and March.
Wolves begin breeding between 2 and 3 years of age and are believed to mate for life. Once
sexually mature, most wolves leave their birth pack to search for a new territory or to join an
existing pack. Dispersing wolves roam 40 to 70 miles on average, and sometimes more than 100
miles, depending on gender, available habitat, and presence of other packs.
Wolf pups are born blind and deaf in an underground den after a 63-day gestation period. Litter
size averages 4 to 6 pups. During the first 3 weeks, pups nurse every 4 to 6 hours and need help
regulating their body temperatures. The mother usually stays with her young in the den, eating
food brought to her by other members of the pack.

Wolf pups are weaned at about 8 weeks of age once they have begun eating semi-solid food,
regurgitated by the mother or others members of the pack. As pups begin eating more solids,
they are moved to one or more “rendezvous sites,” where they spend the remainder of the
summer learning proper pack behavior and etiquette. At 6 to 8 months, the pups begin to travel
with the pack and join in hunts. Fewer than half of wolf pups born in the wild survive to
adulthood. Survival rates are affected by disease, malnutrition and predation
.
Few wolves live more than 5 years in the wild, but with ideal conditions can reach 15 years of
age. Wolf populations are naturally regulated by prey density and territorial disputes among
wolves. In many areas, numbers are mainly limited by human-related factors, including illegal
killing, control efforts to address livestock depredation and car accidents. As wolves return to
Washington and expand their range in Idaho, it is expected that pack sizes will be similar to
those found in the Northern Rockies, which average 5 to 10 animals. In areas with abundant
prey, packs can have 20 or more members.