Incest in Wolves & Breeding Age

[Lexwolf]

A couple questions here.
1. Wolves disperse to prevent inbreeding, I know that. But, if a dispersal wolf were to encounter, say, a cousin or some other relative, would they have any way of knowing that they were related, and would they care, or would it be possible/plausible for them to become mates anyway?
2. Would it be possible for a female wolf to have pups at just one year old?

[Koa]

A couple questions here.
1. Wolves disperse to prevent inbreeding, I know that. But, if a dispersal wolf were to encounter, say, a cousin or some other relative, would they have any way of knowing that they were related, and would they care, or would it be possible/plausible for them to become mates anyway?
2. Would it be possible for a female wolf to have pups at just one year old?

1. Unless in a geographical situation that prevents them from mating with unrelated animals because the local population consists of related animals, i.e., the wolves at Isle Royale, generally wolves can avoid incest.

In sum, our results show that within wolf packs, mated wolves are rarely related as siblings or as parent-offspring. This observation suggests that in general, wolf packs are established by unrelated or more distantly related wolves. Offspring do not often, if ever, replace either parent unless the opposite-sexed parent is first replaced by an unrelated wolf, nor do full siblings often become the breeding pair. Despite frequent opportunity, incestuous reproductive succession is not a common means to attain reproductive success.

Inbreeding avoidance may be one of the primary motivations for individuals to disperse (Pusey, 1987, 1996), although ecological and kinship factors critically influence the probability of dispersal (e.g., Creel and Waser, 1994; Koenig et al., 1992). In Minnesota gray wolves, interpack aggression is the largest source of mortality aside from that caused by humans (Mech, 1991). Consequently, the risks of dispersing and defending a new territory near hostile wolves might be sufficient cause for maturing wolves to remain in their natal pack where they have a chance to reproduce with a close relative. Over many generations, wolf packs would become inbred and the alpha pair would be genetically more similar than individuals known to be unrelated. In naked mole rats, no immigration is tolerated into colonies, and they are entirely inbred (Reeve et al., 1990). The frequent pairing of unrelated wolves that we have observed ensures genetic heterogeneity within wolf packs and suggests inbreeding avoidance may be one of the primary reasons for dispersal from natal packs.

http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/mamm ... iscuss.htm
2. No. Wolves reach maturity at the age of two years old.