Following Wild Wolf Packs | Yellowstone Wolf Dynasty MEGA Episode | Nat Geo Animals

DOUG: Wildness. Wolves represent wildness. We got rid of wolves in North America to civilize the continent. And, civilization couldn't occur if wolves were there. RONAN: It was a big risk in many ways to bring wolves back to Yellowstone. DOUG: The wolves came in January 1995. We didn't know if this was going to work. Those early years there were a lot of question marks, a lot of nervousness, a lot of controversy. We really had to be deeply engaged. And so there was a bonding. You follow them through their lives. RICK: We just were learning so much. We were seeing so much. BOB: This is the stage and you have these actors out there. Everything that wolves do you see here. RONAN: Yeah that's definitely canine tracks. You look at a wolf and they live every day without knowing if they're gonna live the next one. You know every day to them is their last. DOUG: Its fascinating. Tell me a human story, tell me a wolf story I'm you know I'm on the edge of my seat. (theme music plays). Yellowstone by itself is always big theater, big news, and throw wolves in and it's gigantic. NARRATOR: Doug Smith has been with Yellowstone's Wolf Project from the very beginning. He's spent over 20 years in the park, a place where wildlife rules. So we've got a bison jam here. It's slow progress and so these bison don't look too concerned so this might take a couple minutes. Welcome to Yellowstone. We knew that this was going to be controversial. The surprising thing is that we're 20 plus years into this and it's still controversial. I thought people would have adapted to and gotten used to the presence of wolves. They haven't. NARRATOR: In the early 1900s wolves were trapped, shot and burned across the country until the last one was gone from the west. -We used to revere them as a hunter cause we were hunters. And when we started husbanding livestock they became enemies. This hatred of wolves is really deep rooted. I can't figure it out because it is a hatred that's greater than other predators. NARRATOR: In 1926, the last wolf in Yellowstone was killed by the National Park Service. The absence of wolves changed the ecosystem, throwing the natural order out of balance. DOUG: Carnivores for sure have these strong top-down effects. And we had lobbed off the top level. NARRATOR: With no wolves to hunt them, there were too many elk for the land to support. Hundreds starved to death each winter. DOUG: How can you have a natural system without North America's top carnivore? NARRATOR: In 1995, after almost 70 years without them, the first 14 wolves arrived from Canada to be released in the park. The wolves spent their first 10 weeks in pens, to get used to their new home. DOUG: When I came on the scene it was explosive. It was like this a big deal nothing better go wrong. I mean there's an old kind of saying around Yellowstone you don't want to be the number one issue. And I remember coming here and grizzly bear folks were like thanks, you've taken heat off of us. It was a big deal. NARRATOR: The team had to make sure every wolf had a radio collar so they could track their movements once they're let loose. DOUG: The problem was we could control them when they're in the pens, but once we cut them loose, it's all up to them. And one thing we all know about wolves is they can travel. That's a lot of pressure. Are they going to go to the ranch that's 25 miles north of Yellowstone? One animal that died, one animal that left, one animal that reproduced could make or break the whole project. In the beginning, I knew them really well. NARRATOR: The radio collars allowed the team to follow the movements and the lives of individual wolves. Every wolf got a number to be known by. DOUG: We purposely don't name it because that humanizes the wolf, and we want them to be separate from humans, but we need to follow them. Every creatures got its story. And to tell a story, you've got to have a label. And so that's what the number does, it lets us keep track of that animal. NARRATOR: The wolves' return piqued the interest of expert researchers like Rick McIntyre, who came down from Denali to join Doug's team. RICK: My goal for the summer season, was to hopefully see one wolf. One wolf over the course of the summer. And my first full day here I saw the entire Crystal Creek Pack of six wolves, and we were seeing them pretty much every day. DOUG: I've been Rick's supervisor for over 20 years, and the best way to describe Rick is that he's unsupervisable, and he spins the best stories about wolves that anybody will ever tell, ever. No one could match it, and it's that combination of Rick's oddness, and I mean that in a good way, with thousands and thousands of hours of watching wolves. More than anybody in history. NARRATOR: While working in Yellowstone, Rick had a streak of seeing wolves every day for 891 days in a row. RICK: To be there at that time in the history of Yellowstone was really a special moment. It was Beatles level hysteria when people were seeing the wolves. They would not only start crying because of the emotion of it, but they would start running toward me with the intent of hugging me because I had helped them see wolves. If you're a government employee, it's not often that citizens want to hug you because they love you so much, but that's what it was like. It was Beatles level hysteria. NARRATOR: Rick and Doug devoted their days to studying the wolves' behavior, but it was Bob Landis who would bring their stories to life. DOUG: Bob Landis has more footage of free-ranging wolves than anybody in the world, and we've used that stuff extensively to learn wolf behavior, that's been a hugely valuable resource for us. BOB: I've been here probably in the park filming maybe 7000 days. It's different it's like this is the stage it's like you have these actors out there, but it's a different play every time. You never know. I get to know some individuals extremely well because it's over years of time. And so you feel a very deep emotion for them. RICK: The pack that throughout the whole history of the wolves of Yellowstone, that always was the one that attracted the most attention, was the Druid Peak Pack. They, over the years, just had a story for us to witness that really changed our understanding of wolves. And they had certain members of their pack that almost were like figures from The Bible or the Civil War that were giants on the earth. Wolf 21, there will never be another wolf like him. In my opinion, he was the greatest wolf who ever lived. NARRATOR: Wolf 21 was part of the first litter of pups to be born in the reintroduction to Yellowstone. They were called the Rose Creek Pack. RICK: We pretty much know his life story of nine years from birth to death. NARRATOR: 21 started life as a black wolf, the years would turn his coat to gray. When he was two, like many young wolves, he left his family to find a mate and a new pack to call his own. DOUG: His whole joining of the Druid Peak Pack from Rose was one of the best stories of wolves... I mean the whole thing was observed. Bob filmed it. It was one of the best documentations of how a wolf joins another pack. BOB: I was out in the Lamar Valley, and I got a call on the 2-way radio from a group of coyote researchers that told me there was two wolves down the road that were interacting in a very strange way, it's something they hadn't seen before. DOUG: So, wolves joining another pack when you're an adult is a risky undertaking. I mean you could die, so you don't do it unless you know there's a vacancy. RICK: And they for whatever reason were very aggressive. They had killed a number of other wolves. So for him to make what at the time seemed like a deadly mistake. To walk right into the middle of their territory seemed to be very foolhardy. But 21 always knew what he was doing. We don't know how he had figured this out, but he arrived just after their alpha male number 38 had been illegally shot and killed outside the park. DOUG: He stood away and howled and howled and howled and howled, and they howled back to him, and somehow, I think he pieced together or sensed something that there's an opening there. RICK: In watching Bob's footage, it was actually the pups that were really intrigued by this big guy coming into their territory, so they ran over to see what was going on. DOUG: These ice-breaker pups kind of come out and do this split-leg stance like, "Do you want to play?" And, of course, 21 never went for any of it because he's not in a mood to play. I mean this is life or death for him. But that ice-breaking that kind of, how do I say it, you always need someone to just be themselves to get a situation to become normal. Maybe crack a dumb joke. That allowed 21 to kind of inch forward, assess the situation there. BOB: The females then started dancing around, much like a dog would dance around when it gets real excited. RICK: So they ran over and they were all flirting with him at once. He was the George Clooney of wolves at that moment, surrounded by female admirers. BOB: And then eventually, after a couple hours of this they all just got together and that was the beginning of 21's stay with that pack. NARRATOR: 21 paired with the Druid alpha female, wolf number 40. DOUG: 40 ruled in a very dominant, cruel way. There was no question watching that pack that she was in charge. BOB: 40, I hate to use the B-word, but that's how we would look at it anthropomorphically. She would, she bloodied several of her sisters over fights. NARRATOR: One of the sisters, number 42, was a constant target. RICK: 42 had the exact opposite personality. She was very benevolent toward the other members of the pack, and so for years, she took the abuse. She took the constant beating up, the bullying. NARRATOR: 42 remained submissive to her fierce sister until an unexpected role reversal. RICK: Eventually the two sisters had it out. It happened in the middle of the night, so no one witnessed it, but when we came out the next morning we found 40, and she was drenched in blood. DOUG: Next morning I get a call, "A wolf on the side of the road, and it can barely walk." That was 40. And we didn't know what happened at first. Maybe a car hit her. If a car did hit her, we were going to try and help her because that's unnatural. We get out there, we catch her, we put her in the back of the truck, and just as we put her in the back of the truck, she died. RICK: When we examined her, her whole body was full of wolf bites. We think what happened was that 40 did something to threaten her sister's pups at her sister's den site. DOUG: And her sister went to defend her pups, and there were a couple other females there, and they all ganged up on her and killed her. And to this day, that's a one-of-a-kind event, but it's probably because she was such an aggressive wolf, and when you're an aggressive wolf like that, you got to watch your backside all the time. BOB: Now, the highlight of all that is that within a day, 21, the alpha male goes over to the den of 42, and gets 42 and then 42 started taking her pups, one by one, three miles, back to 40's den. And she takes care of her sister's pups, and raises them. NARRATOR: Between the three Druid females, an incredible 21 pups were born that spring. RICK: We think if we knew the fate of every pup born in Yellowstone, maybe there'd be a 50% survival by the end of the year. NARRATOR: By the end of that year 20 of the 21 pups were thriving, with 42 as their matriarch. -For 21, she was the queen. He just served the queen. He was in charge of defending the family. That was his strength, then doing the hunting and bringing back food. To organize things, get everyone to work together, that was her strength. It was a perfect match. They were meant for each other. NARRATOR: The 20 Druid pups were the beginning of a historic pack led by 21 and 42. DOUG: They got to be 37 wolves, and that might be the largest wolf pack ever recorded. RICK: That was the only alpha pair that could have done that, just due to the abilities that each one of them had. DOUG: They were the most known wolf pack worldwide. And thousands of people would come especially in the summer just to see them because they heard about them. KIRA: When I came here, the Druid Peak Pack was said with some level of awe or reverence. Watching wolves every day allowed people, and for us now, to get to know their personalities and watch them, raise their young, every year, their successes, their failures, and, be able to get to know, as well as you can get to know any wild animal. It was a pretty incredible thing. NARRATOR: The Druids lived in Lamar valley, one of the best wolf territories in Yellowstone. In winter, elk migrate down from higher altitudes in the park's interior, Fueling a wolf pack's most vital activity: the hunt. -While they're hunting, it's usually the younger wolves that do the chasing to see which elk, are going to be the appropriate ones to pursue. They have the most energy. They're really physically fit. Once the rest of the pack kind of chooses which one it is and slows it down, it's oftentimes the largest males that will bring the animal down, usually grabbing the throat. RICK: It would be like any human athletic team. Most of the time there's only a few star players that score most of the points, but you need a whole team. In the days of 21, he would have been one of the star players. He ruled that pack, that position was his without much struggle.. And he was a good guy, nobody wanted to take him on really. BOB: My all-time favorite wolf of all these different personalities is one called 302. Which is a male that was born not too far from Mammoth and ended up all the way out in Lamar Valley on one January day. We didn't know who he was at that time. It was black. RICK: Wolf 302 in a way was 21's nemesis, his opposite. Kind of like they had a relationship similar to Batman and The Joker. 21 was the epitome of masculine responsibility, dependability. 302, not so much. BOB: 302 was a lover. So, he was looking for females, he just didn't know how to do it right. RICK: During the mating season, when 21's daughters would flock over to 302 when he came on the scene. 302 would just run far enough away to get away from 21, then stand on a hill and howl. Poor 21 would have all of his daughters run past him to go to the no-good boyfriend. NARRATOR: But even for 21, patience runs out. BOB: And then 21 comes in and clobbers 302. And 21 should've killed him cause that's the normal thing that a male would do, an alpha male. But let him up and he ran away and then 302 came back again the same day and got pinned again and they repeated that several times over the winter. RICK: As far as we know 21 never lost a fight in his life. But again, as far as we know, he never killed a defeated enemy. There's no end to what you can say about 21. Then again, 42, she was his equal. NARRATOR: The average life of wolves in Yellowstone is five years. 21 and 42 ruled the Druids together for nearly seven. When she was 8, 42 was killed by a rival pack called the Mollies. DOUG: 21, not to read emotions into animals, appeared distraught. He returned from the site, it was high up on Specimen Ridge, he returned and just, yeah, it was actually kind of sad. 21 howled for a couple days, just almost like he was looking for her. RICK: He was never the same after that. It took us a while, but we eventually found him. He had walked way up to the top of a mountain, to a place that he and 42 had probably been at hundreds of times. So by himself, he used the last bit of his great strength and energy to walk up there. That's pretty much what happened within four months. As far as we know, he's the only wolf that we've ever had that was so tough, so strong that he not only lived twice as long as normal, but he died in his sleep. And that's where he wanted to be. I think that's where he had the best memories of his life. NARRATOR: Dozens of wolf packs have come and gone since their reintroduction Wolves live hard and fast lives. Battles over territory, disease and early deaths can break a pack. After more than two decades, only one original pack stands. DOUG: We have one pack that uh was reintroduced in 1995, first year, that's still going. NARRATOR: The Mollies Pack lives in Pelican Valley, deep in Yellowstone's interior. DOUG: That's pretty remarkable that Mollies is still going after all those years. NARRATOR: They were named after Mollie Beattie, head of us fish and wildlife at the time of the reintroduction. The key to the Mollie's survival may lie in their unusual choice of territory. DOUG: They live unto themselves. And a lot of other packs in Yellowstone are living next to other packs, constantly having to ying and yang with them, and there's Mollie in the middle, by themselves, bison eaters. NARRATOR: In winter, elk leave the high interior, leaving only the toughest animals behind. The mollies have traded plentiful prey for uncontested land. RONAN: They are really this phantom pack that exists in Yellowstone that people don't see very often cause they live in the center of the park. NARRATOR: This intrigued photographer Ronan Donovan. RONAN: I was brought onto a National Geographic Magazine project in 2014 in Yellowstone and had the opportunity to cover wolves for that issue. I wanted to show wolves and wolves in Yellowstone at their wildest and that was the pack to do it with. NARRATOR: But their wildness created a challenge. Because they live far from roads, the Mollies, like most wolves, are very wary of humans. RONAN: If the wind is right, wolves can smell humans from miles away. So you really have to be conscious of the wind and the terrain and they have incredible eyesight so they can see movement at great distances. So they're a really tricky animal to get close to if they don't want to be close. One of the best ways to get natural behavior is to use camera traps. If you're not there as the human, you're not affecting their behavior. NARRATOR: Ronan looks to photograph the hidden lives of wolves throughout the Yellowstone ecosystem. RONAN: It's kind of this detective work that you do to go out and, you know, in the wintertime you follow tracks and you're trying to discover what the animals are doing and snow is amazing because you can literally read exactly what an animal is doing. Oh yeah these are some really good tracks in here. Yeah it's definitely canine tracks. Looks like they're coming, maybe marking around this tree. And they lead up this trail so this is definitely a used place. I might set up a camera trap here just to check it out and see what comes by. So what we do is we set this up and I don't know this pack at all so I'm trying to get them used to the camera. It's going to smell like me, it's going to look funny and it's going to take them probably a few weeks if not more to get used to it. I gotta check it cause there's a sensor right here that picks up any movement and I just have to make sure that it works. Make sure that was working. Ok playback. That's pretty good it's picking me up maybe about 30 feet away. All right, put it back in position. You leave cameras out for weeks at a time and you go and check on it and you hope it pays off and you hope you get something out of it. At least that's the goal. Camera traps are mostly heartbreak. It doesn't work most of the time, but it's just that 5% of the time that it does that makes it worthwhile. My favorite image from the Yellowstone project was an image of the the big alpha female. She's on the right side of the frame and she's standing there in the snow with two of her yearling offspring. They've had to transition from hunting elk to taking down these old male bison that will be weakened in winter but still very strong and very dangerous to take down. She is producing all of these bigger, stronger wolves and it definitely looks like that when you see them all together, that they are big strong wolves compared to some of the other packs in the park. NARRATOR: The Mollies are survivors, but even at its largest, this super pack only reached 19 wolves; around half the size of the Druid Peak Pack at its prime. But there's a reason the number of Druids will likely never be matched. NARRATOR: When the Druid Peak wolves were released into the park, there were nearly 20,000 elk in northern Yellowstone. DOUG: Right now, we're hovering around 7,000 and that seems more natural. There were more wolves because there were more elk. NARRATOR: More elk meant more food for pups. DOUG: So, they quickly responded to this big food source. Now I think we're more in a phase of ecology, of wolves on the landscape and being part of the landscape. NARRATOR: Having wolves back on the land has changed it in a big way. DOUG: Restoring that top level has had subtle effects on everything below. NARRATOR: With few predators, the elk had overgrazed the natural vegetation. Today it flourishes. -Insects, fishes, grasslands, all of these things are subtlety altered. Everything in nature is usually subtlety altered, but when it happens over lots of time, it becomes a big thing. 50 years ago no one would've thought we'd be where we are now. Restoring wolves to Yellowstone I think was the last piece of the puzzle that restored this ecosystem both biologically and ethically. wolves were reintroduced it was a compromise. They returned to a more populated west, and many ranchers were wary of a new threat to their livestock. RONAN: There were many people who feared that it would be the end of the livestock industry in Montana and Wyoming and Idaho to have these big predators back in the landscape because there's this idea, kind of myth about wolves being these viscous killers. ABBY: There's definitely a passionate constituency on both sides here, people who like to see wolves and people who'd rather there aren't wolves here. And there's validity to both sides. NARRATOR: Gray wolves were protected on the endangered species list for the first 13 years after their reintroduction to Yellowstone. When their population grew across the west, things changed. Wolves are still protected in National Parks, but once an animal leaves Yellowstone, it's on its own. -People have this idea that wolves and other wildlife, they're wild, why do we need to manage them, right? The reality is that people have taken over these wild places. One of the goals is to create a situation where wolves and other predators can live alongside thriving human rural economies, and that's a challenge. DOUG: The single most important thing behind wolf management and recovery is human attitudes. The west is becoming more developed. And you gotta go back and forth, hash these things out and try to get something that you both can live with. NARRATOR: By 2012 it was legal to hunt wolves in all three states bordering Yellowstone. Each state monitors their wolf and elk populations to decide how many animals can be hunted each year. Abby: So right outside the park there are two areas where we limit hunting, and those two areas are key travel corridors for the elk migration, and so wolves tend to follow the elk out of the park in the fall, and so it's kind of a tricky area because you have this human created boundary that animals move back and forth across. NARRATOR: The annual elk migration from the park's interior can lead to danger for Yellowstone wolves. DOUG: I mean it's something that I have to live with. I get asked that a lot. Are you against wolf hunting? No, I'm not. I'm against it in the park, and the park needs to serve its function, but when the wolves leave, that's kind of a give and take that we're going to have to work out, and to a degree, we have worked it out. NARRATOR: The number of wolves inside the park has stabilized at roughly 100 wolves each year for the last decade. DOUG: I think we have a saturated landscape, in other words, there's as many wolves as there can be. Occasionally, wolves that live primarily in the park are shot outside. That doesn't affect our population numbers. NARRATOR: The overall numbers may be stable, but those studying wolf behavior have seen the impact a key loss can have. DOUG: When a lead wolf gets killed, it's more destabilizing to the pack. NARRATOR: And studies are beginning to reveal the most dramatic effects are tied to a pack's lead female. NARRATOR: The Druid Peak Pack lasted until 2010, 14 years after they arrived in Yellowstone. But their legacy would be carried on by an extraordinary female, nicknamed 06 after the year she was born. RICK: If we think of 21 as being the ultimate male wolf, and 42 certainly is pretty close to being the ultimate female, but if there was anyone that was at her level it would be their granddaughter. That would be the '06 female. She was very independent, very self-assured. By any standard she was drop dead gorgeous. That's a biological term, by the way. All the boys wanted to court her. One by one, because she had such high standards, she'd be with them for a little bit and then dump them. One of the best parts of her story, when she was the equivalent of middle-age in human terms, maybe someone well into their 40's, she met someone and he had a brother. NARRATOR: 06 chose the smaller brother, 755 as her mate. -With her being middle-age, the fact that they were the equivalent of two brothers that were high school sophomores, it was really an amazing thing to see. DOUG: She became the sensation because like a lot of males, humans included, they were just like whatever kind of guys, go with the flow, and she was a wolf with a mission. She taught herself to be perhaps the greatest hunter we've ever had. And she needed no help. She was always a wolf that stood out, a wolf that took charge. And 754 and 755 just went along with it. NARRATOR: With her mate 755 and his brother 754, the 06 female formed the Lamar Canyon Pack. Kira: She was a great mother. She raised her first two litters, didn't lose a single pup during that whole time. NARRATOR: But 06's third litter of pups would be her last. In the winter of 2012 elk numbers were down in the park, and food was scarce. BOB: The last time I filmed 06 was in December of 2012, she was out in front of the Lamar Valley, and her youngsters were off chasing bison. she and the other adults were just kind of watching the whole thing, and then the chasers reformed with the adults and came towards the road. And that was the last time I saw her alive. NARRATOR: 06 took her pack across the eastern border of Yellowstone, following the elk out of the park. RICK: She was always kind of, fairly used to people. So she didn't have this view of people as being something that was to be feared. DOUG: Outside the park, that's fatal. It allows for a good shot on them. (gunshot) A lot of people called saying I didn't express enough outrage. They thought I should resign. I got several calls like that that I should have been more angered in the paper. She was legally shot by a hunter in Wyoming, and so, that's part of having wolves back. Wolves, death is common in their world, so they've adapted to dealing with it, but we put a lot into it. I put a lot into it, so it was a rough time. KIRA: When they lost their alpha female, things changed dramatically for that pack. NARRATOR: 755 lost his partner, and was forced to leave his pack. Wolves aren't built to go it alone. But to survive, 755 had no choice. DOUG: He kept going. And it's like I'm interpreting here, uh, speculating but shook his shoulders and said got to keep going, you know? I get asked all the time, what's the lesson you've learned from wolves? They never feel sorry for themselves. I've seen wolves with broken legs. Uh, busted up teeth and they go and kill elk. You know because they just, that's what you do and if they don't they're not gonna make it. NARRATOR: With their leaders gone, the remaining wolves split off and went their separate ways. But this isn't the end of the pack 06 built. One daughter remains in the valley, carrying on the legacy of the Lamar Canyon Pack. RICK: The wolves today in Yellowstone, many of them have the genetics of 21, of 42, the '06 female, even 302, flowing through them. Each one of them is going to have a story to tell. BOB: Going through the gate in the morning, quite often, I remember when the wolves came through the gate, I filmed it, so I had no idea that that would be the beginning of filming wolves in Yellowstone... But I was very lucky. DOUG: We live in such an artificial world. It's parking lots and plazas and conveniences. That's what we're built on, and wolves are real, and they're wild. And you'll never get that out of a wolf. And we connect with that. I look at a wolf, and I go, "You're pure. You're unmolested. You live a real life. I need to do that, too." And I think other people deep down see that as well, and that is the best reason to have restored wolves to Yellowstone because they've helped us. NARRATOR: It's been more than two decades since Yellowstone restored its true natural order... ♪ ♪ ...with the return of wolves to their role as top predator. (wolf growls) (elk squeals) And one valley has emerged as central to their fate. (ravens squawking) One pack long ruled this place. But it's the best wolf territory in all of Yellowstone... and rival packs want it for their own. (barking) Invaders are a constant threat... and border skirmishes can erupt into full-scale war. (barking and snarling) But for the pack, a wolf is willing to risk it all. (wolf howling) This is a tale of quest and conquest... a struggle for land and legacy. (howling) The stories of all wolves are, but in the Lamar Valley in northern Yellowstone, the drama unfolds in plain view. When wolves were brought back to the park, special collars allowed researchers to identify and track them. And one group became some of the most documented wolves in the world-- the Druid Peak Pack. By this day in 2004, the Druids have ruled this valley for eight years. At their peak, they were a great clan of 37 wolves, one of the largest wolf packs ever recorded. But that was almost two years earlier when their leader was in his prime. He's known by the research collar he wears as wolf number 21. He's almost nine-- twice as old as the average wolf in Yellowstone. Along with his mate, alpha female 42, he keeps the Druids together, helping to feed and protect them. Good territory is key to a pack's survival. Wolves are born to hunt, and Lamar Valley is the finest hunting ground in all of Yellowstone. Each winter hundreds of elk descend into Lamar to graze. The valley is surrounded by mountains and sheltered from the deepest snow. It's also surrounded by rival packs, looking to claim Lamar Valley The Mollie's Pack reigns a high plain to the south. Here winters are brutal-- good reason to find new domain. Just to the west is territory claimed by the Slough Creek Pack, archenemies of the Druids. (snarls) When food gets scarce elsewhere in the park, the rivals will make their move to invade this valley. (elk mewing) But for now, the Druids have the elk to themselves. (elk barks) (mewing) The young wolves leap forward, full of speed and stamina. They chase and test the elk... ...until they find a weakness. Each wolf has a role to play. The athletic youngsters do most of the legwork, tiring the elk. 21 leads with patience and experience. A veteran makes the final attack. (elk squealing) When it's over, all the Druids share the reward. (bird squawking) Just over the ridge, a lone wolf is forging his own way through winter. Number 302 broke from his pack as a two-year-old. No wolf wants to be alone. It's too hard living without allies. But he is willing to take the risk for a higher status, better territory and a chance to breed. The urge to be with his own kind draws him onward... until he stands before the Lamar Valley and the mighty Druids. Their presence draws him closer, but this is dangerous ground. Here, conflict is a way of life. (snarling) High rank and breeding rights are often achieved through force. Many die young. (squealing) But he is no ordinary wolf. Instead of strength and aggression, he's armed with cunning. He has his own recipe for success. 21 and his mate are not happy to see 302. Alpha males kill intruders like him. (whining) But their daughter can hardly contain herself. (bark) (growl) 302 keeps one eye on the daughter... and one on the old man. Finally, the handsome stranger has gone too far. 302 faces a life-or-death situation. He must either run for his life or turn and face his attacker in a head-on challenge. But given two options, he picks a third. He faces his rival and then immediately surrenders. The charm offensive fails. 302 backs down quickly; he doesn't want to challenge 21. He's more of a lover, not a fighter. The daughter slinks home to her mother. But this is a battle parents never win. Their daughter's longing is beyond their control. The Druids haven't seen the last of 302. (bird chirping) NARRATOR: For two years 302 visits the Druid Pack and persists. He courts the females, but what he really wants is to join the clan-- an idea that seems to agree with all the Druid daughters. This is the usual way a wolf changes clans, but 21 and 42 will not allow it. Together, they give 302 a final message. He won't become a Druid on their watch. But their watch won't last long. They are at the end of their reign. Within a week, the alpha female will be dead-- killed by rivals from the Mollie's Pack. In a few short months, 21 will follow her. His bones will be found lying on a ridge above the valley, overlooking his kingdom. It's the end of an era. The tale is about to turn for the Druids of Lamar. (wolves howling) Wolf territory is hard won, and this valley hasn't always been theirs. When wolves returned to Yellowstone, the Mollie's were the first to rule Lamar. Then the Druids arrived and quickly forced out them out, taking the valley The Mollie's retreated to a high plain. Here, it would transform into the park's super wolves. When temperatures drop, this is the harshest land (bellowing) Bison have been here since just after the last ice age. But even for them, it's a struggle to survive. The elk left months ago for lower altitudes. The Mollie's have made an extraordinary choice. Instead of taking on other wolves for the riches of Lamar, they stay here and take on the fiercest prey. These wolves survive on bison. And they have become the biggest, strongest wolves around. But when times get desperate, the Mollie's do trespass back into Lamar. Defenders of a perfect valley, the Druids can never afford to let down their guard. There are packs on all sides, and competition can come from any direction. (elk mews) Without warning, an army pours into the valley. It's the Slough Creek Pack, breaking through from the north. And they're 15 wolves strong. The invaders sense that without their old leaders the Druids are not the clan they used to be. 21's voice is missing. The Sloughs can hear the Druids' weakness... and attack. Though outnumbered, the Druids set out to meet them. (barking and growling) Tails waving high, the Sloughs smell victory. But the Druids are fighting for everything they own. NARRATOR: The battle between the Sloughs and the Druids for Lamar Valley begins in confusion. The young Druids don't know what to do. (barking and howling) Then the chief of the Sloughs takes charge, making the first attack. The Druids are on the run. The best they can do is escape with their lives. (panting) The once mighty Druid clan scatters. Bound for hard times, they head into exile. The Sloughs begin to gather. They've done what no other pack has been able to do in almost 10 years. They've broken the Druids and taken Lamar... the greatest prize in Yellowstone. Their victory celebration is loud and long. (wind howling) The transfer of power doesn't just affect the wolves. A coyote pair depends on wolf kills to help them survive the winter. What kind of overlords will the Slough Creek wolves be? (birds squawking) They've already made a kill... (squawking) ...and the male coyote moves in as usual. (eagle shrieks) This time, it's a terrible mistake. Flush with their new power, the Sloughs set out to deliver a message. (yelping) They show no mercy. (growling) The female coyote has no choice but to flee. She looks for her mate... but he won't be coming. It's the first pupping season in Lamar for the Sloughs. They have not one, but four litters. It's promise for a thriving pack. But the pups begin to die one by one. The killer is an unidentified virus sweeping across the northern range. The Sloughs are hit hard; out of 15 pups, only three survive. A pall seems to hang over Lamar, plaguing the footsteps of the Slough Creek Pack. (thunder) By their second pupping season troubles go from bad to worse. A mysterious gang of 12 wolves from outside Yellowstone steals into Lamar. Within days, they kill one of the Slough males, and a second male goes missing. Then slowly, deliberately, the unknown pack climbs the western ridge, up to the steep site of the Sloughs' den. On a cliff to the west, the Sloughs keep watch, but strangest of all, make no attempt to rescue their pups. For 12 days, the unknown wolves camp out at the site. The Sloughs fail to break their siege. They're unable to reach their pups with food, and the pups all die in the den. The unknown wolves then withdraw from the valley, leaving the Sloughs broken and weak. But at the far eastern edge of Lamar, fortunes are turning. (woodpecker hammering) Spared by their exile from the valley, the small band of Druids are thriving. With them is 302. He has become a Druid at last. He's joined by his brother. Perhaps together they can rebuild the clan. They hunt with new purpose. They have pups to feed. From just two females have come 11 new Druids. The pack has been reborn. The pups are the strength, the future of the clan. And for Yellowstone wolves, power can change hands as quickly as the seasons. (bugling) NARRATOR: Inside Lamar Valley, sickness and invaders have devastated the wolves. With no pups to anchor the pack, the Sloughs start to scatter. Some have been killed or died on their own. Some have just drifted away. With winter in the air, thousands of elk roll into Lamar like a tide. And on their heels come the Druids. Out in front is 302. He's bringing his family and his clan back to their land. Reaching the heart of the valley, they wait for a challenge... but all is quiet. The Sloughs have no fight left in them and slip away up the ridge in silence. They had taken this perfect valley and just couldn't keep it. But then, nothing worth having is easy to hold. One spring day, far from the valley, an extraordinary wolf is born. She is the daughter of a Druid. Her mother was born into the Druid Peak Pack, and like many young wolves, left to start a family in a new home range. The pup is called 06, after the year she was born. She may have been born far from Lamar, but like Druids before her, she will feel the pull to the valley. (pups yipping) Like her grandfather, 21, she will leave her mark. Her journey won't be an easy one, but she's destined for greatness. In far-off Lamar, the Druids are happy to be home. 302 is in the prime of his life. He is now six years old and the Druids' best hunter. He scores kill after kill for his pack. He provides as much for his family as any leader. But he's not the pack's ruler. His brother is alpha, and he never misses a chance to remind 302 who really has the power. (yelp) Eventually it seems 302 has had enough. In 2008, he leaves the Druids and the valley behind... hoping to find his place as alpha in another part of the park. For the Druids, 302's departure is the beginning of the end. Only a few wolves remain in his brother's pack. Their presence won't be enough to keep this coveted valley. There's a new void waiting to be filled. (birds singing) NARRATOR: Now two years old, the Druid granddaughter is on her own and on the move. 06 still has the playful instincts of a pup, but soon it will take most of her energy just to survive. She has left her pack to find a partner and a new home. Now a lone wolf, she must leave her mother's territory and brave a new land--alone. (grumbling) With the snows, she has an advantage. Prey has moved down from the high plateaus. But with no pack, it's nearly impossible to take down the elk she desperately needs. She must cross the territory of rivals-- threatening to kill her at every turn. In spring, things only get tougher for a wolf. Prey is stronger, well-fed and wary. But 06 is desperate for a meal. For a big male wolf to take on an elk alone is bold. For a female, it's almost unheard of. One kick could crush her skull. 06 does not give up. But she's out of her depth. 06 must move on to find the partner she's looking for. Her life and her legacy depend on it. A lone wolf would hope to find a mate in a couple of months, but 06 has been on the move for close to a year. The odyssey has tested her and made her strong. Edging ever closer to the valley that has drawn so many wolves before her, she crosses into Lamar. Here, in the footsteps of her Druid grandparents, she'll find what she's looking for. There's not just one male... but two. They're brothers, half her age, and they act like it. It's unusual to choose such an inexperienced partner, but she bonds with the smaller brother. (barks) At long last she has a mate... and the social ties so important for every wolf. Both males defer to 06. This remarkable female is the undisputed leader of the pack. Lamar is now her valley to defend. And in the hard winters ahead, rival packs will all have their eye on it. With smarts, grit, and a little luck, 06 has reached the age of six, older than most Yellowstone wolves. (yipping) Her family is nine pups strong. They're called But no wolf reign is peaceful for long. Just when 06 seems to have it made... a stranger appears. And not just one. It's the Mollie's Pack. Elk numbers are down Even the biggest, toughest wolves have had to move down from their high range in search of food, and they will battle to take over 06's territory. NARRATOR: The Lamar Canyon Pack is caught off guard. When there's no time to strategize, the best thing to do... is run! Most of 06's pack escapes. But one daughter is separated. Against an enemy pack, a single wolf is doomed. Then, as if they've made a decision, the Mollie's let her go. The two rival packs are bound by a larger fate. Elk numbers in Yellowstone continue to fall. The population has collapsed by nearly half over 06's lifetime. That winter, lack of food becomes a crisis. With so little prey in the park, 06 has no choice but to lead her pack out of Yellowstone. She crosses an invisible boundary no wolf can see. On the other side of the park's border, hunting is legal. Wolves can be shot on sight. 06 doesn't know it, but she's taking a huge gamble to feed her clan. The elk have moved to lower altitudes, and here she finds the food they need. But it comes at the highest cost. For 06, it ends with a hunter's bullet. Soon, her pack falls apart. She was their leader and their mother. For her partner, her death is life-changing. He's lost his mate. If he wants to have more young, he must strike out alone, just as 06 had to. With no one in charge, the young wolves flounder. Some are killed; some move away from the valley. In the end, only one daughter is left in Lamar Valley. Here she will rebuild her mother's pack. But their future is uncertain. The life of a wolf is anything but stable. It's a tough world, and the wolves will face it boldly. Like all empires, wolf packs rise and fall. And through it all, the valley will be waiting.