Wolf naming

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psy
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Wolf naming

Post by psy » Sat Apr 22, 2023 10:37 pm

How are most wolves usually "named" by humans (32M, 55F, etc)? I've tried looking this up but got different answers. One site said that the number comes from the year they were observed (so a male observed in 2012 would be 12M, female in 1995 would be 95F), but another resource says that it is the wolf's corresponding number in a region-specific breeding program - for example, if a wolf's name is 844M, it is the 844th wolf in the program.

What is the most common way that people determine these identifying values for individual wolves? I would assume the latter as you could run into many wolves with the same "name" if you went with the former method of year + gender, especially if there are many wolves being observed at a time. I'm not sure if there may be another way to come up with these numbers.

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Re: Wolf naming

Post by -Wolfdog- » Sun Apr 23, 2023 8:36 am

I have been wondering this myself for story purposes, but could never find a concrete answer. I think it depends, really. But I'm not sure either.
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Re: Wolf naming

Post by Koa » Sun Apr 23, 2023 4:04 pm

This came up on the WolfQuest Discord awhile back and a member actually gave me a partial answer but I don’t think I ever received the full one. Give me a bit to compile what I have for you but there’s definitely an answer out there.

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