Yellowstone’s White Wolf

If I hadn’t met a wolf researcher on my way out of Yellowstone, I would probably think yesterday’s shots of the Grizzly were my best wildlife shots. When I saw the researcher with a spotting scope, I walked over and asked what he was looking for. When he said that he was watching for a wolf pack, I mentioned that I had taken shots of a white and gray wolf a few miles from Old Faithful the day before.

When he saw the shots I had taken, he got excited and said researchers had been looking for this wolf for months but had been unable to find her. He asked if I would send him a shot of her and of the gray wolf accompanying her. He said I was extremely lucky to see the wolf, much less get photos of her. After that, I was convinced that these must have been my best wildlife shots.

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I only got a few shots of the grey wolf because it left while the white wolf continued to eat.

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The wolf spent a long time gulping bits of meat

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before walking up the hill carrying a large bone.

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After finishing her meal, she made one more attempt to prove to the gathering of tourists that she was a healthy wolf,

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and after a brief pause continued up the hill licking her chops.

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As she disappeared from sight, she howled, apparently calling to the her companion who had wandered off while she finished her meal. It was a reminder that this was wilderness, even surrounded by 50 people as desperate as I was to escape “civilization.”

5 thoughts on “Yellowstone’s White Wolf”

  1. WOW! Such a fantastic and beautiful sighting. When I look at that picture of the white wolf, I think if there really were such a thing as a “totem animal” that wolf would surely be one. What a lovely crossing of paths, Loren.

  2. Thanks for the report on Yellowstone wolves. A few years ago my wife and I were there and saw several grizzlies, but no wolves. We own property in Oregon and are dismayed to learn that Oregon folks voted eradication of wolves, at the behest of the cattle industry.

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