by Christina Lysacek
Most of the information biologists have gathered on Yellowstone National Park wolves over the past 15 years has been thanks their study based on capturing and tracking wolves.
“Radio collaring really is the fundamental aspect of our program. If we can’t mark the wolves and follow them around, then we can’t count and learn about them. Getting a collar on a wolf is the most basic way of studying them,” said Dr. Doug Smith, Yellowstone National Park Senior Wildlife Biologist.
This study allows the team to determine if wolf pack populations are increasing or decreasing, how many young are in a pack, how wolves are dying, their interactions with grizzle bears, and how wolves are impacting elk, deer, and bison.
The Yellowstone Wolf Project team heads out via helicopter, targeting specific wolves based on the GPS signals they’re able to pick up from wolves that are already being tracked in that pack. The group uses a standard veterinary does of a drug that sedates the wolf for a few hours, and in that time the team works quickly to put a collar on the animal, and conducts a number of tests.
“We draw blood which tells us about their exposure to diseases, we genotype each wolf so we can make a map of how they are related throughout the park and can determine if there are wolves that have joined the pack that may not be related to them. We also check for parasites, and we weight and measure them to get information on growth rates,” said Smith.
This collaring program costs about $250,000 each year, and most of the money comes from a Bozeman based non-profit organization. “Sixty percent of our budget has come through the Yellowstone Park Foundation, about $5,000,000 over the last 12 or 13 years. We could not have done everything we’ve been able to do with wolves in Yellowstone if it wasn’t for the Yellowstone Park Foundation,” said Smith.
He told us this is the longest running uninterrupted wolf study in the area, and since its inception, the crew has captured and tracked about 470 wolves.