Inside the Wolf Pack (Full Episode) | America the Wild | Nat Geo Animals

Casey: There's nothing quite like being an insider, in pack of wolves. I don't want to have a submissive position near the carcass. A journey that began with two wolves I raised from pups continues with close encounters among Yellowstone's resurgent apex predator. There is a big black male. It's actually trying to infiltrate the pack. I'll track the gray wolf from the first steps of a controversial reintroduction to farthest reaches of an ecosystem where the wolf is restoring balance. This bear, before the wolves were reintroduced, would have never had the opportunities that he has now. So he's completely benefiting from the wolves' presence. I'll endure rugged extremes and face deadly strength for a chance to see the view from inside the wolf pack. Right now I've got front row seats. And this is the greatest show on earth. I'm setting out into frozen depths of winter in backcountry to track one of the park's wolf packs: the silver pack. When you're trying to find wolves, sometimes the best way to start is by looking down. Look at the size of these. This is a massive wolf track. Look at that, this is definitely not your average dog. He's moving in that direction. So hopefully I'm going to follow this and find a wolf at the end of this track. Since the return of wolves to Yellowstone National Park, winter showcases some truly spectacular scenes. Wolves don't hole up for this harsh season like the park's bears. They're very active even through the coldest months, hunting game that's been weakened by the unforgiving extremes and finding partners during their winter mating season. Through the years, I've been fortunate enough to work with a number of animal species: grizzly bears, mountain lions, bighorn sheep, and, even, wolves. But no matter how much time you spend with captive animals, nothing replaces the experience of observing them in their natural habitats. So I'm making my way into the territory of silver pack. I've just come down off the ridge to watch this herd of bison. And it is really cool to watch them eat in this deep snow. They use those massive heads to move the snow and get down to the grass. But I'm not the only one watching the bison. Just up on the ridge is a pack of wolves. And something really interesting is happening. There's a black wolf trying to And the alpha keeps trying to run him off. So I'm going to go over here and watch and see what happens. A pack is the basic unit of wolf society. It's organized around a dominant pair, often called the alpha male and alpha female. The pack's primary breeding pair. The alphas and two younger wolves, make up the But this outsider looks like he might be trying to shake things up. Wow. That wolf is super persistent. It keeps trying to get into the pack. But the alpha wants nothing to do with it, keeps running it off. It just keeps trying and trying over and over. And he just keeps chasing it off, going after him, chasing him far away. And he just comes right back, tries to get in the pack. As I watch, the black wolf makes on advance on one of the young females. The alpha male rushes in to interrupt. Now that black wolf was part of another pack at one point. And broke away, wanted to start his own pack. That's what he's doing right now. He's coming into this pack and he wants to make it his own. Maybe some day, he will be the alpha. This chance to observe and understand the complexities of wolf pack dynamics is an opportunity I wouldn't have had just a few years ago. An estimated 200,000 Grey Wolves once populated the United States. But, as waves of settlers arrived in the west, wild lands gave way to ranches and farms. The new arrivals saw the wolf as an adversary, a threat to their livestock and a trespasser on their newly claimed lands. The extermination that followed eliminated the grey wolf from nearly all of its original territory in the lower 48 states. In 1926, government hunters killed Yellowstone's last wolf. Meanwhile, biologists were reconsidering the relationships between predator and prey. They began to understand that taking even one species out of an ecosystem could trigger an avalanche of unforeseen consequences. So the scientific community advocated for the reintroduction of wolves in national park. But not everyone was ready to welcome them back. The debate raged for over fifty years until 1995, when the U.S. fish and wildlife service put a bold plan into motion: wild wolves would be captured in Canada, relocated by air to Montana, and chauffeured into the backcountry of The transition proceeded in stages. First, the Canada wolves were acclimated to Yellowstone in large free standing pens. Wolf number 10, a big, muscular male. Joined number 9 a female that would, in time, make a huge mark on the history of Yellowstone. At first, these two wolves, brought from different packs tangled in frequent skirmishes. But, as time passed, they grew close. Finally, when winter became spring, number 10 and number 9 were released into the wild with tracking collars. The experiment was underway. And the whole world was watching. The staff traced the progress of the pair. But after a few weeks, number 10's movements ceased just outside the park boundary. He had been shot. Not fives miles from the site of number 10's death, the project team found number 9 and discovered her new litter of pups, the first members of a new generation of Fearing for their danger, the team collected the family and brought them back to safety. Eventually, number 9 and the pups were released for good. Number 9 quickly proved herself as an important matriarch. In one genetic study she was found to be related to almost 80 percent of the wolves in the park. Her most prominent son, number 21, became the leader of the famed druid peak pack, the largest and most visible of many packs that began to establish territory in the region. Scientists and amateur wolf watchers savored an unprecedented chance to observe events that played like scripted dramas as leaders rose and fell and family lines evolved. The druid peak pack grew to a staggering 37 members, stars of the new wolf watching world. For almost 10 years they occupied center stage. But gradually, conflicts with other packs and outbreaks of disease chipped away at their empire. The druids are gone. And the silver pack, the pack that I'm tracking, now roams in a part of their old territory. But as the advances of the black wolf prove, no hierarchy goes untested in wolf country. Even after I move on, tensions between the alpha of the silver pack and the black wolf continue, eventually exploding in a vicious battle captured on film. The black wolf draws blood. fights back he's not giving up his place in the family if he doesn't have to. After a fierce battle, the battered alpha retreats. He slinks away from his pack. It looks like the black wolf might have managed to steal the alpha's crown. If I'm going to survive out here and keep watching the wolves, I'm going to have to build a backcountry home where I can weather the freezing winter nights. This looks a great spot for a quinzhee a Native American snow shelter designed for use in these light, fluffy snow conditions. It's the perfect spot. Now, for the hard part: I've got to pile snow as high as that probe, but I'm going to get my crew to help first. If you plan to spend some serious time out here, size does matter. Building a dome that I'll be able to stand up inside of is a big job. I've only been at it for a little bit. I'm down almost as tall as I am and I've got a long ways to go. Just adding the finishing touches look at that thing it is massive. The rewards for a job well done more than make up for the effort. Come blizzard or arctic cold front, this shelter will maintain a temperature right around thirty-two degrees even if the temperature outside is forty below zero. Casey: It is so warm and comfy inside the Quinzhee. And I know it is frigid outside. But, that's where the wolves are, and I've got to go find some, so. I've got to get up, leave the comforts of the Quinzhee, and head out there. Today, I'm going to track down the silver pack again and see if the black wolf has secured the role of alpha. Scanning for the pack, I see something moving in the icy water below. What a day for swim! It's the middle of winter out here in Yellowstone and one might think that the animals are having a miserable time but not all the animals are; I just spotted a family group of otters out here, five in total. And they're out here swimming, sliding on the snow and ice, and dipping down in that cold water and coming out with things that they're eating. This is really fun to watch. Otters enjoy this icy dip because they're wearing a very special bathing suits. An otter's coat has 150,000 hairs in every square inch. Now I'm out here watching these river otters and having a great time, sliding through the snow and ice, jumping back in the icy cold water coming back out, slithering around, time. River otters know how to have fun. I search for signs of the silver pack all day. Finally, at sunset, I see wolves in the distance. This is incredible. That wolf pack with the black infiltrate it, well he has. And he actually has done more than that. He is the new alpha male of the pack. The old alpha is gone. It is so cool to see such great wolf dynamics unfold right in front of my eyes. I head back to the warmth of the quinzhee. Even with this time tested shelter and all of my technical gear, I'm pushing my body's limits just staying warm. But, unlike me, the wolf has been prepared by evolution not just to survive, but to excel in these conditions. A captive wolf pack and a high speed camera reveal every detail of the wolf's design. With their trainer on guard and my years of experience handling predators, I can get close to the wolves something that wouldn't be safe in other situations. This is as hands on as it gets, right here. The wolf's first line of defense against winter extremes is at my fingertips. Two layers of hair the course guard and the silky undercoat retain heat so efficiently that snow doesn't even melt on the outer layer. Wolves are perfectly equipped to chase their prey in the deep snow. They've got long legs and big paws that act like snowshoes. And they have super endurance. Now Midnight and Echo are going to put all of that into action. Alright Jean. Midnight and echo have little trouble with the snow because they spend so much time above it. Wolves are able to bound up to sixteen feet in a single stride. Before they touch down, they spread their webbed toes. The maximized surface area of their paws prevents them from sinking into the snow. Top sprinting speed clocks in at between thirty five and forty miles per hour. And this athletic prowess is not reserved for short bursts. The gray wolf will travel up to one hundred twenty miles in a single day in search of food or new But it's their most deadly weapon that I want to see up close. I know this is a crazy idea, but I came up with it. I want to experience the bone crushing, joint dislocating power of a wolf bite. I'm going to stick my arm out there, for a wolf to grab on to it just like they would if they were grabbing on to the flank of an elk. So, we'll see A wolf attacks at lightning speed. Slow motion reveals the tremendous force of the strike. They're capable of biting at fifteen hundred pounds per square inch, twice the pressure of a German shepherd's strike. This strength distinguishes wolves from other canids, a family that includes dogs, coyotes, and foxes. And it's enough to make me think twice about trying this again. I'm glad he can't get through there. When you put it all together adaptations to snow, bursts of speed, tremendous stamina and a bite to match you get one formidable But the wolf's most powerful advantage is cooperation. Wolves hunt in packs. The strength of their collective attack makes them an apex predator, an animal at the top of the food chain. In Yellowstone, elk flourished in the absence of this apex But with the return of the wolf, the game changed. In this footage from the first years of the reintroduction, the elk seems stunned by the new aggressor. Elk had lost their fear exhibiting a condition that scientists call naïve prey syndrome. They didn't know their enemy. They made easy targets for the But quickly, the elk became more vigilant, moving frequently and avoiding places where they didn't feel secure from the wolves. Now, only 1 in 5 wolf attacks results in a successful kill. Casey: My journey into the world of the wolf has taken me from fierce pack rivalries to individual wolf anatomy. But now it's time to go inside the pack itself. And there's one foolproof way to get a glimpse into pack life: find a carcass, make yourself comfortable, and let the action unfold. I'm down here by the river. We just spotted two gray wolves. And I know why now; right here along the river, there's a dead elk. That elk carcass is pretty much Came through last night it wasn't So what this tells me is that there's probably a good size pack that completely got their fill at the back of the trees, sleeping it off. Hope they come back and pick what's left. On all the wolf carcasses I've seen over the years in Yellowstone a similar pattern emerges. First, the alpha male and female, the heads of the eat the prime cuts of the animal. Subordinate wolves claim their share next. And, finally, the lowest ranking wolves, usually the youngest, mop up the leftovers. The carcass on the riverbank is pretty picked over by the time this young wolf approaches and takes a share. Even after the sun sets, continue to feed on the carcass and the feast carries on into the night. But move a little closer, as I'm able to do with the captive wolves and it's like becoming a temporary member What a unique opportunity to be this close to some trained wolves on an elk carcass. Now this wolf right here is doing the exact same thing that wolf did when he bit my sleeve. He's getting a good grip and using that tugging power to tear the flesh away every tooth that a wolf has is used right here. canines when they actually take the elk down and right now they are using there incisors, the small teeth in front, to bite and grab little pieces of flesh and tear them away. And even the hair, they actually pluck the hair away with their incisors so they can get down to the meat. And then, when they get down to the bone, they'll use the teeth in the back of their jaw and they'll crush the bone so they can get to the marrow to eat it. So right now, as these other wolves move in, this wolf seems to be the dominant wolf establishing its position on the carcass. He's using vocalization to let them know, I want this to myself right now. The wolves are very aware of hierarchy. And because I'm so close to the carcass, I have to assert my right to be here. Now I don't want to have a submissive position near the carcass as the wolves come around me so that's why I stood up there. I definitely don't want to be seen as the submissive wolf last time that happened I ended up with a few dozen stitches. Every time I'm near a wolf pack, even in captivity, I have to be sensitive to the pack's hierarchy. A lot of what I know about pack psychology I've learned from these two: Teton and Madison two grey right alongside Brutus. Once Teton and Madison were full grown, they joined a pack of arctic wolves at the wolf keep wildlife sanctuary outside Missoula, Montana. The arctic wolves sport snow white coats. Teton and Madison, might not look like the arctic wolves, but they're definitely part of the pack and must act according to their rank among the other wolves. Oh, boy. Oh look there is Teton over there too. Now see there're not too high on the totem pole, so to speak. There's rules in this pack, so they are going to be a little hesitant of being, reacting the way they want to around the rest of isn't so sure about me entering the ranks. Teton and Madison want to come greet me, but they need to get permission from the alpha wolf first. This is the Alpha male of the pack. His name is Wizzy. He's kind of coming up and checking us out. Letting us know really that he's the boss, in some way. And one thing I always do you can look at Madison here he's already demonstrating some slinking around body language, really submissive. When he was a puppy I used to do this vocalization pup, pup, pup, pup and he really will recognize And you'll see as I walk over here he is wanting to interact. As Teton and Madison approach me, the alpha immediately steps in to assert his dominance. And you can see this guy's demonstrating, I don't think this is a real cool thing you're doing. He's making sure that they know he's still the boss. That's right. But finally, the alpha lets his guard down, and gets to give me a proper greeting. Casey: I'm the join my wife, Missi. Missi and I spend lots of time outside together, and I always enjoy getting a chance to take her on my adventures. You made it to Kodiak. Today, we're meeting in west Yellowstone, the headquarters for winter tours. Each year, thousands of visitors travel into the park on snowmobiles and snow coaches for a unique experience of Yellowstone's wonders. This morning, it's a balmy negative twenty one degrees, so missy and I have bundled up for the journey. Missi: Wow, that was cold. Casey: Look at the ice crystals in the air that are forming that's called diamond dust. Basically, right now, it's so cold that any humidity in the air is turning into ice crystals. Missi: I've truly never been this cold in my entire life. Casey: How do you think the elk and bison feel? They have to stay out here twenty-four, seven? That's a tough gig to have. Missi: Well, they don't know what it's like to stay at the Days Inn and have a hot bath and sleep in a warm bed. cold out here your eyelashes are actually staring to freeze. Missi: So are yours. Casey: We should get back on these sleds and go find some wolves. Deal? Let's do it. We spot a set of tracks in the meadow and stop to take a look. Look right here, now you can see where the red fox has been hunting around this meadow and unlike us, look how he's staying on top of the snow. You follow its tracks and you can actually see right over there where it listened, heard a rodent underneath the and then leapt into the air right down into the pounced on that little rodent, grabbed it. Missi: I guess I understand it intellectually but a visual would really help. So you want me to demonstrate a fox pounce? Missi: Yes, please. Now make sure you give us a full demonstration including the radar and a very deep pounce. Casey: Okay, so what the fox does is, he comes up. He listens, he hears a rodent underneath He uses those ears, he locates that rodent with his radar, and then. Missi: Well done, that was very sly like a fox. Casey: but as complementary as Missi is of my imitation, she's thrilled when we track down the real McCoy. A little fox like that even though they are not very big, have to eat a lot of rodents a day, so they cover a lot of ground searching for rodents and food. Missi: So cool, when he was walking up, he was walking on old tracks. Like when I'm trying to follow you, I always step in your footprints because it makes it a little easier. I noticed he was out there following his own tracks. Casey: Yeah. They'll use old tracks all the Sometimes even the road. Watch him he's using his radar right now. Watch. He got one too! It's amazing the little rodents are snow just minding their own business, just cruising along and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, that fox just comes right ceiling and grabs 'em pulls 'em up bam! If we could jump in the air, y'know, in comparison to our body size, it would be like jumping over the top of a two story building and then like, landing head first in the snow. Back on the tour, Missi and I make one last stop. I think we've finally found what we're looking for. If you listen, you can here, it sounds like a single wolf right up there, howling. Do you hear it? Missi: Yeah, I heard it a second a go. that's multiple wolves howling. There's a pack of wolves up there and there's a herd of bison right And that pack of wolves needs to eat we hang out here, we go the perfect formula for an epic wolf situation. Missi: How many bison will they kill? Casey: Well, they'll only kill one bison and likely a young bison or an old, weak bison. To take down a bison for even the biggest, baddest wolf pack is quite a feat. Right now I just spotted up here on the hill a I see four right now. I see a big black male and then three gray wolves. Want to look? There's a big one on top of the ridge. There's like a little swale and then a bump look at the bump. Missi: I see them oh my God! Wow, so cool. Casey: Yeah, they are on the move. Now, what's great is we've got Missi: They're totally coming down towards us you think they are going to go for a bison? Casey: That's the perfect recipe we've got wolves and we've got wolf food. big! I didn't think they were going to be that big. So which pack is that that we're looking at? Casey: Well judging by it's numbers, that's the Gibbon pack, which is the biggest pack in the park. They have seventeen wolves, which is a massive pack. But the gibbon pack doesn't stay around for long. Just as quickly as they came onto the scene, they disappear into the frozen air. The bison are safe, for now. Casey: Spring arrives in Yellowstone. And with it comes a chance to observe a wild gourmet feast. When a wolf makes a kill, a crowd flocks to the scene. We've got a great situation here. The wolves killed a bison last night. And right now, I've got front row seats with two big grey wolves on it. A wolf can consume a staggering twenty pounds of meat in a single sitting. But wolves take very large prey. This bison could easily have weighed more than a thousand pounds. So a wolf kill is a smorgasbord for scavengers. At least a dozen species in the park, including, ravens, eagles and coyotes benefit from the abundance. With spring's arrival, grizzlies emerge from their dens and the banquet gets a little bit more complicated. I know there's grizzlies around, so I'm going to sit back and see As I watch, a big grizzly moves in to challenge the wolves for the Grizzlies rarely take down adult elk or bison by themselves. They just don't have the speed. So wolf kills have become a significant new food source for the bears. It's funny that big boar just waking into that carcass. And his apparent arrogance, he just doesn't care, just moves in and says, come on wolves, give it a shot. Grizzlies lack subtlety when it comes to claiming their piece of the pie. would never have quite the Now that the wolves are in the area, they are killing a lot of different animals and leaving the carcasses around for the bears to eat. So he is completely Now the wolves are moving back in. But that big boar, he has staked his claim on that He is not even eating. He is just laying on it. Showing the wolves who's boss. The wind picks up and snow begins to fall, but the bear doesn't budge. Right now, it is a game of patience. The bear is just lying on the The wolves have moved on. They are lying down. And they are just going to wait to see who makes the next move. The weather in spring in Yellowstone is unpredictable. Just when you think winter is over, a blizzard blows in. And I'm freezing my butt off, get out of here. Feasts like this clearly demonstrate that the return of this skillful hunter benefits many species. But not every wolf kill is appreciated. With the success of the wolves quickly began to expand their range. Today, more than 1500 wolves from the Yellowstone program and from populations in northern Montana and Idaho have established territory outside of the national parks. Roaming among millions of domestic animals, the wolf stirs heated contention. Ranching is an important part of the economy and a treasured way of life. I'm visiting two ranches not far from the park, a cattle ranch, and a sheep operation. I want to talk to people who make a living on the land and hear their side of the wolf story. But first, there's some work to do. I pitch in to help with two important spring tasks: branding and shearing. We'll give the calves vaccinations and mark them with the ranch's brand. And we'll shear the sheep, collecting woolly fleeces that have grown for an entire year. When the work wraps up, it's time talk I'm a fifth generation Montanan, it's important to me to get the point of view from the people that are living it every day. And really try to tell the truth. What is really happening out there with these wolves, and how is it affecting people that live right out here in wolf country. Justin: I don't agree that there isn't a place for wolves, I just don't think it is in a place where there is agriculture. fit. We've had tremendous amount of trouble with them and um we don't feel like we should have to move because they are there. Casey: A few extreme incidents have fueled the argument against This ranch outside of Dillon Montana lost more than 100 sheep in 2009. These wolf kills accounted for more than a quarter of the total wolf related livestock deaths in the state of Montana during the year. John: there is good and bad in But we see the bad because they have killed on our place. And, we have lost probably around four hundred head of sheep. It's a sick feeling to walk out there and see that. Our loss, last year alone, was pretty close to fifty thousand dollars. Casey: Programs have been set up to help reimburse ranchers for proven wolf kills. But it can be difficult to find an animal that has been taken by a wolf, not to mention confirming its cause of death. Justin: Everything in agriculture today is just getting tougher and tougher and we just really didn't need one more think like that to be stepping on us. John: If there's livestock there, hey, I think they're going to, you know, they got to eat so they're going to kill, so. You know, I really don't know if there is going to be any way we can co exist with them. I see the bad in wolf. There's other people see the good in them, so. Casey: While wolves still account for only a fraction of livestock deaths in the region, I can empathize with these ranchers who face yet another threat to their livelihood. So what do you guys think of wolves? Don't have much to say. Oh! They don't like The wolves might not be welcome among these spring lambs, but in a surprising twist, the wolves are saving another kind of baby pronghorn antelope. For years, the coyote reigned as top dog, preying on pronghorn antelope fawns in their most vulnerable state. Before a fawn is strong enough to travel with its notoriously fleet footed mother, its only safety lays in hiding. Coyotes patrolled for these defenseless babies, killing many in their first days. The park's population hovered at dangerously low numbers. But wolves have reduced the coyote population by half in important pronghorn birthing grounds like the Lamar valley, giving the fawns an unlikely champion. The wolves, busy pursuing larger game and chasing off coyotes, give the fawns a chance. In the presence of the wolves, pronghorn numbers continue to grow. Casey: When summer brings green to ecosystem, I head to a place that's full of life. For decades, scientists watched with concern as massive elk herds grazed alongside the park's waterways, clipping shoots of willows and cottonwood before they had a chance to grow and browsing vegetation down to the ground. Now before the wolves, elk would congregate down in these riparian areas. They browse on the willows, graze on the grass, and really beat it down. Now the wolves didn't come in here and kill all of the ungulates. They just forced them not to be in this area. Wolves, always on the lookout for an animal in a disadvantaged position, instilled fear in the elk. The elk learned to avoid places where they felt vulnerable like the areas bordering waterways. So the riparian zones quickly began to show the effects of reprieve. Now these little willows are very important to this ecosystem. They provide stability right here on the stream bank. Their roots down here in the mud prevent erosion. But that's not all. They also provide shelter to waterfowl, amphibians, mammals and little fish will be born right here in these banks. Beavers had almost completely disappeared from the park's waterways because the elk depleted their food sources, plants like the willow. vegetation is back, the beavers are once again getting busy. Look right here. This is sign that one of nature's greatest engineers is around. Now this is a beaver and what this beaver's done is come over and chewed these saplings off. He's taken these trees, moving them down river, making a dam. And what that dam is going to do, it's going to raise the water level. It's going to provide a very crucial irrigation to a lot of the vegetation in the area. And it is going to create a perfect wetland habitat. Now this is one reason, why these riparian areas are so critcial. This little stonefly larvae is one of the trout's favorite things to Now without these riparian areas, these little guys wouldn't exist. The trout wouldn't be fat and happy, the osprey wouldn't be fat and happy from eating the trout, so it's all linked together right here in this riparian zone. The cascading effects of the wolf's presence are rippling ecosystem. But the successful restoration of wolves to another location has proven more challenging. In new Mexico, a team of biologists is fighting to save the Mexican grey wolf, a subspecies that no longer existed in the wild when recovery programs began. In these pens, the team has bred the endangered wolves in the safety of captivity and prepared them for release back into their natural habitat. With the help of this program, more than forty Mexican grey wolves again live in the wild. But disease, poaching, and the challenges posed by drawing from a tiny genetic pool, all threaten the recovery. It's feeding And one essential part of these wolves going back into the wild is they get used to eating natural food sources and what I've got here is the rear end of a big horn sheep. So let's hope they like it. So this is very special to be in here because I know there's not very many of these wolves around. Maggie: Yeah, there is only about three hundred of them in captivity as part of the captive breeding program and about forty adults in the wild. We'll have to continue to release animals from captivity until we have a viable population Casey: Today is an exciting day for the wolf breeding program. I'm joining the team for an initial check up on five new wolf puppies. I'll be the first person who's ever handled the pups. One thing that's really, really cool about today is the wolf pups we are handling are going to be released into the wild. So they like to minimize the human contact. But what is happening today is a necessity to make sure that when they are out there in the wild, healthy wolves. So she is going to shut the den box. Hopefully the little guys are inside there. Maggie: Alright I've got five pups, no adults. Casey: Five pups no adults, that's exactly what we wanted. And we got a little boy. Last but not least, a little girl. Three girls, two boys, time to get vaccinated so you can go We grabbed them out of there, they all look great and healthy so now its time to do some work. As we gather the pups for their exam, I'm careful to cover their eyes a technique that helps reduce the stress of this procedure. Biologist: The eyeshade helps relax them. Casey: These guys should not like humans once this is all said and done. First up is a physical exam to check the pups' overall health. We record heart rate, look at teeth, and take a blood sample. Next we give the pups a vaccination to ward off disease. Any outbreak would be disastrous for a tiny population like this one. A dose of de wormer follows. This may be really yucky, yucky tasting, but it's essential for the wolf's health because parasites are bad. Our last step will help the scientists keep track of each individual pup. So a very this process it to identify each pup and the way they do that is injecting a small microchip beneath the skin so they can identify each pup individually. Now once the microchip is in there, they use a scanner and each pup has its own number. And it's working. Little male. Elk and dear only. Now cows. See you later, dude. You're almost When the pups have all been through the work up, we return them to their den. Mom's over there, she is not really happy. But that is to be expected. This is the first time her pups have been removed from the den. Just like any good mom, she's concerned for her young. I return the pups to their den, and they're one step closer to the wild. At sunrise, Susan, the wolf vet, takes me to an observation blind where we can watch the wolves without disturbing their interactions. The moment I open the hatch, I spot a lone wolf in the pen. The yearling in the pack is actually over there chewing on the big horn sheep carcass. amazing, all five wolf pups have emerged to of the carcas. One of the little puppies has a piece of the big horn sheep I left in there yesterday. And he is running around playing keep away from the other puppies. This is an incredible milestone the pups have just started eating solid food, and we're the first to see them figuring out how to tackle a big meal. In my time here with the Mexican wolf pups, I keep thinking back to the beginnings reintroduction. I can imagine, in a whole new way, how the park's team must have felt when they discovered number 9's pups, the first sign that wolves, gone for more than half a century, could once again thrive A dream that was so small and fragile then is now shaping the landscape. We'll never know what this land was like when wolves ruled. It's going to take hard work and compromise to make room for apex predators. But as long as they're among us, we'll be connected to an older time, to the wildness that hasn't yet been lost.