what would be a reason for a wolf to abandon its mate and pups?

Post wolf-related questions and we'll try our best to find the answers.

Moderators: Isela, Koa

Post Reply
User avatar
clothes
Newborn Wolf
Newborn Wolf
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2021 11:17 am
Gender: Female
Location: Nevada

what would be a reason for a wolf to abandon its mate and pups?

Post by clothes » Sun Oct 17, 2021 4:37 pm

i was thinking. what would be the reason for a wolf to abandon his or her mate and pups? like i’m not talking to start their own family i’m talking about like they already have pups but i was reading something on wolves doing this sometimes. rarely but sometimes :|
PEE IS STORED IN THE

User avatar
-Wolfdog-
Yearling
Yearling
Posts: 371
Joined: Wed Jul 24, 2019 4:09 pm
Name: Wolf
Gender: Female
Location: Northeast
Contact:

Re: what would be a reason for a wolf to abandon its mate and pups?

Post by -Wolfdog- » Mon Nov 01, 2021 9:47 am

clothes wrote:
Sun Oct 17, 2021 4:37 pm
i was thinking. what would be the reason for a wolf to abandon his or her mate and pups? like i’m not talking to start their own family i’m talking about like they already have pups but i was reading something on wolves doing this sometimes. rarely but sometimes :|
It might be due to several reasons, sometimes wolf packs will experience conflict, especially with their adult offspring during breeding season when there are more hormonal mood swings so to speak. I have heard of wolves being ''kicked out'' of their own pack because they were tired of being picked on. Supposedly, Cinderella's mother was kicked out of her own pack since her other daughter (40F) was very aggressive. (link to the story) https://www.hcn.org/wotr/14583
''Her life was nothing if not dramatic. For her first four years in Yellowstone, 42 suffered under the ruthless domination of her sister, 40, the alpha female at the time, and an especially aggressive wolf. Forty had ousted her own mother as leader and then lost no opportunity to beat up on her sisters, 41 and 42, and their offspring''
However, I haven't heard of a wolf abandoning their mate with young pups, it might be because of environmental factors. Most animals will instinctively abandon their offspring in times of high stress, the rationale behind it being, ''I need to focus all available resources on myself so I can have an even stronger litter next year. It's too dangerous to raise one now.'' At least with female animals, anyway. It also might be due to polygamy such as Casanova the wolf, however I'm unsure if he managed to form a pack or not (he probably still did).

The most likely explanation IMO might be a lack of resources especially if the pups are young? Maybe someone else can provide a better answer. (-:
⍋ ⍋
ABNUS LUMI
🐺
🐾

User avatar
Koa
WolfQuest Moderator
WolfQuest Moderator
Posts: 13101
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:53 pm
Gender: Female
Location: washington, d.c.
Contact:

Re: what would be a reason for a wolf to abandon its mate and pups?

Post by Koa » Wed Nov 03, 2021 3:03 pm

Answered this on the Wolf Q&A channel in the official WolfQuest Discord; there are some other answers of mine in older threads here, but this is the most cohesive answer to your question.

***

Abandonment [of pups] is possible but depends on the context. In a scenario where abandonment is on the table, survival of the pups depend on the age of the pups and which mate dies; the likelihood of survival probably influences abandonment. If the pups at an age where they still require milk for example and the mother perishes, then their abandonment and/or death is likely if there is not another lactating female present.

Abandonment is also more probable if the parent present with the pups is in life-threatening danger, according to a wolf keeper named Jackie at the Minnesota Zoo:
“Something to remember is that while a mother wolf has bonded with her pups, it is unlikely that she would die protecting them. She would abandon them after putting up a fight if her life was definitely in danger. This may sound cruel but many pups wouldn't survive without their mother so what would be the purpose of her dying. Pup survival is not easy. We don't know what the wolves are thinking, but there is always the next breeding season.”
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=465#p10583
Otherwise, especially if the pups have been weaned, wolves are capable of caring for the pups by themselves if the other wolf dies. Thus, the pups need not be abandoned. Still, this is not without its challenges.
“For wolves, monogamy does not appear to be obligate in the sense defined by Kleiman (1977), meaning that care by the father (fig. 2.6) is not essential under all conditions. At least one female wolf raised pups, apparently from birth, without help from other pack members (Boyd and Jimenez 1994). Other examples include situations in w
hich mothers, and in one case a father, raised pups after losing a mate (Boyd and Jimenez 1994; D. W. Smith, unpublished data).”
L. David Mech, Wolves: Behavior, Ecology and Conservation, page 50

Original question on Discord as it relates to mates: "Although wolves are monogamous, there are some cases where a male wolf(usually a rogue) mates with more than one female, or a subordinate female denning alone in her pack, but never bonding with the wolf she mated. Why would that happen?"

I didn’t find a definitive answer that addresses why but I’ll do my best to answer this question.
If the extra, non-dominant female in a pack is pregnant, Mech actually notes that the first culprit to be suspected would be the dominant male “even if the extra female were his daughter” due to inbreeding being a documented occurrence. However, in wild wolf packs, this is relatively rare (see my answer about inbreeding probabilities in this channel). The more likely answer would be a wolf from another pack or “outsiders through temporary liaisons” (*Wolves: Behavior, Ecology and Conservation, page 3*). Some of these wolves may fall into the category of pack “adoptee;” most pack adoptees are male, are one to three years of age, and are adopted anywhere from February to May. **Most adoptees stay with their new packs for a few days** but sometimes stay up to a year. Outside of regular adoptees, a male wolf that has been taken in to replace the breeding female’s mate may breed with her mature daughters, if present.
If present in a pack, non-dominant, mature female wolves need sufficient nutrition and low stress to be able to breed; sometimes this does not always occur due to a lack of food availability or pressure from the dominant animals (page 4).

So, if there is a successful mating, what’s the probability of abandonment?
The answer I found that addressed abandonment in general terms is that because the breeding period for wolves is so limited, there is “less incentive” for wolves to abandon pregnant mates in search of other females to pair/breed with.“Theoretically there is little ultimate cost to males that stay with their mates and help care for pups … females are unlikely to succeed in raising young alone” (page 45).

My guess for the reasons behind abandonment/lack of bonding in a pair if it were to occur would be harassment from the dominant wolves, the presence of food stress or being in an area “where all suitable areas [for territory] are already defended (i.e., ‘saturated populations’)” (page 38).

Post Reply