When Mom Drops the Wolf Pups Off with the Babysitter

[catbyte]

Wolf Conservation Center

Raising pups is a family affair; it is natural for all the wolves to pitch in!

The yearlings (one-year old siblings) will assist their parents in rearing their younger siblings by regurgitating food for them, playing with them, and even babysitting. Moreover, the parents will demonstrate critical parenting strategies and techniques for the yearlings to employ when they have pups of their own.

Passing down knowledge from one generation to the next also allows the family to maintain traditions unique to that pack.

Beyond being adorable and cuddly, this Mexican gray wolf family represents the Wolf Conservation Center's active participation in the effort to save this species from the brink of extinction.

The WCC, a 501c3 non-profit organization in South Salem, NY, is one of a network of facilities participating in the Mexican Wolf Species Survival Plan - a bi-national initiative whose primary purpose is to support the reestablishment of Mexican gray wolves in the wild through captive breeding, public education, and research.

[tblue37]

1. K&R for the wolf puppers. nt

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. That mom looks awfully thin.

[catbyte]

3. Most nursing wolf & coyote moms look like that. They're very well taken care of at the WCC.

[2naSalit]

5. The nursing phase

does that to many animals and they kind of look a little skinny much of the time anyway because of their long legs and huge feet.

[2naSalit]

4. It's a laudable facility.

Wolf family structure is amazing. Native cultures see them as the teacher of family structure and custom. The betas are the babysitters. In the wild this is the case as it is the responsibility of the alphas to lead hunting activities so someone else has to watch the young.

[Amy-Strange]

6. Mitochondrial DNA from gray wolves has been found in every domestic dog species in the world, and...

-

that's why scientist think they were the only species involved in the domestication of dogs.

Did I say that right?

Anyway, I found this out when I watched the Nova documentary, "Dogs Decoded."

It's a fascinating doc, and if you have a chance, watch it.
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