Four female red wolf puppies (10-12 days old) were our reward for a long, hot day of crawling through thick mats of vegetation and entanglements of vines and briers. The Rich pack's den was finally located in a hole dug into the root system of a large pine tree. To get to it we spent hours searching, literally crawling on our hands and knees, sometimes wriggling along on our bellies through a labyrinth of tunnels underneath a fortress of vegetation so thick that there was really no other way through it.
Still, we couldn't’t help but be impressed with the mother wolf’s selection of a den site – these puppies were definitely well hidden. Although we left the puppies at the den, we did manage to bring home with us a nice collection of ticks, briers, and poison ivy as a keepsake. We don’t refer to the denning season as the ‘itchy season’ for nothing. -- Ryan
Herculean efforts produced terrific rewards! Good work!
ReplyDeleteHappy Endangered Species Day 2010, Red Wolf team! Thanks for all that you are doing, and have done
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