Wyoming wolf pack documented with 24 members

[Koa]

April 20, 2015
JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) – The West's largest known wolf pack roams in northwest Wyoming, federal wildlife officials say.

The 24 wolves in the Lava Mountain Pack is nine more than any other pack surveyed this year in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington or Oregon, state and federal reports indicate. The predators roam hill country about 30 miles northeast of Jackson.

"That's a very large pack," Mike Jimenez, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Northern Rocky Mountain wolf coordinator, told the Jackson Hole News & Guide. "They actually had a double litter a year ago, and that's uncommon."

First documented in 2008, the Lava Mountain Pack was already the largest pack in Wyoming a year ago when it had 15 wolves. Then, two litters of pups were born in 2014, Jimenez said.

But the pack's size likely will not last, he said.

To read the full story, go here: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/ ... /26079715/

It will be interesting to see how much longer this wolf pack remains a large pack. Wyoming has around three-hundred wolves, so there isn't as much competition compared to Minnesota's wolves, where the population is around two thousand.

[Dijiri]

Wow! That's awesome! Such a big pack.

[D0m]

Wolves have been know to live in packs of up to 50 members. But this is an interestig read, thanks Koa.

[Nor-easter Forecast]

Wow, that's a big pack! I doubt it will last very long though–my understanding is that the Druids only peaked for two years between the time when multiple litters were born and when they fractured into several packs. Still, if WY has fewer wolves there might be fewer incentives for this new pack to split up because there are not as many dispersal candidates to create a new breeding pair.