Wolves of Ellesmere Island

I've been following an interesting blog lately that tracks the movements of a pack of 23-25 wolves on Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg islands, located in the Canadian High Arctic. The research team, lead by Dave Mech and Dean Cluff,was able to place a GPS/ARGOS radio tracking collar on Brutus, the leader of the pack, in July 2009, making following the pack much easier, particularly during the long winter. Tracking data is stored in the collar and Emailed to the project team every four days.

The packs home area is centered on Eureka, where there is a weather station. They feed primarily on musk-oxen, caribou, and arctic hares.

Here is the "Wolves of the High Arctic" blog

http://internationalwolfcenter.blogspot.com/

An article by Dave Mech on arctic wolves:

http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/essay_mech.html



Here's a photo taken of Brutus at the wolves den.




This photo , and many others taken by the expedition can be found here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/intlwolfcenter/

Brutus exhibits dominant behavior towards an offspring.



Summertime on Ellesmere Island.




I'm not sure if this is this is Brutus's pack.