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Wolf pups wrestling at rendezvous site in Minnesota

Voyageurs Wolf Project | September 10, 2025



By sheer chance, we happened to have a camera where the Half-Moon Pack decided to have a rendezvous site last summer! As a result, we got tons of footage of the pups and a bit of the adults…most footage is of pups slowly meandering around or sleeping. Not the most exciting stuff necessarily! Granted, the footage below of the pups playing is pretty neat!

BUT, the footage was excellent data! Particularly valuable were multiple observations of 7 pups running around together, indicating that 7 of the 8 pups born into the pack had survived until mid-August.

However, sometime between mid-August and mid-December, something happened because by mid-December, the Half-Moon Pack was three wolves, only one of which was a pup. In other words, 6 of the 7 pups that were alive in August likely didn’t make it.

We don’t know what happened and probably never will at this point. Nonetheless, an intriguing pattern: most pups survived the first few months of life and then survival plummeted during late summer and fall.

This pattern is one we have seen several times now over the past 3 years, and we suspect it is because many pups end up starving to death in late summer or fall.

Learn more about the Voyageurs Wolf Project:
Website: http://www.voyageurswolfproject.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/VoyageursWolfProject
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/voyageurswolfproject/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/VoyaWolfProject
TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@voyageurswolfproject

Written by Voyageurs Wolf Project

Comments

This post currently has 20 comments.

  10. @monicasong427

    September 10, 2025 at 3:01 pm

    When wolves kill out of necessity, they do not randomly hunt anyone. Canadian scientists studying wolf packs found that they are actively seeking out weak, sick, or injured animals. Thereby, reducing the spread of disease.

    Human hunters do the exact opposite by taking out the healthiest, strongest, and necessary genes within the species. In turn, causing the species to go extinct and destroying the ecosystem.

  13. @rachel_sj

    September 10, 2025 at 3:01 pm

    My chihuahua mixes wrestle just like this…sometimes on us, on our laps, or the couch, so we move them to the floor (to us, they sound more like Jackals than wolves). Sometimes, you can't take the wolf/wild dog outta the pup!!

  15. @akiriith

    September 10, 2025 at 3:01 pm

    Most unfortunate that most of the pups died. Still, for some reason, it makes those captured moments all the more special, a moment of peace and relaxation inbetween the harshness of life. As usual, thanks for letting us into the lives of these beautiful animals!

Comments are closed.

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