Alpha Female #9

Despite intense but difficult monitoring, no one has been able to locate any pups belonging to Alpha female #9.

Mike Jimenez, the lone wolf biologist for Wyoming's U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, along with 5 volunteer students from a local community college, have been staking out the area around #9's 2nd den site for several weeks now and have recently reported that they have not found any evidence of pups for female #9.

Jimenez and the students have been monitoring and tracking #9's movements by driving their vehicles over rugged terrain and then traveling great distances on foot. They have been able to locate and follow #9 by using special telemetry equipment and then by following her tracks.

To the disappointment of Jimenez and the students, each time they reached the area where #9's signal had been detected, she had already moved away. And unfortunately, no sign of any pup tracks have been found with hers.

This news comes as a real letdown (to put it mildly) for everyone who has been anxiously awaiting word on the number of pups in what could be #9's last litter.

#9's "new" pack had even been permanently renamed the "Beartooth Pack" in anticipation of pups.

Of course there still remains the remotest possibility that she might have pups, but I think that that is just wishful thinking at this point. By now the pups would be quite big and their tracks would be easily detectable.

I really don't know how to explain the mystery surrounding #9's 2 den sites. Sometimes wolves have what is called a "pseudo" pregnancy, where they will dig den after den but not give birth.

This was the case with female #5, Alpha of the Crystal Creek pack. But female #9 has never been known to exhibit this type of behavior and it seems strange that she would start now.

It's still a possibility that she did in fact give birth, but that none of the pups survived.

Last year, a parvo epidemic wiped out nearly one third of all of Yellowstone's new pups. But there have been no reported parvo outbreaks yet this year in or around Yellowstone or in Wyoming.

Of course the pups could have died from any number of other causes as well.

I imagine that many are theorizing about what might have happened to #9's pups, but unfortunately for all of us, this is one mystery that may never be solved.

If any new developments arise I'll be sure to update this story.