The Reign of Wolf 21, Yellowstone's Benevolent Alpha Male

"Like Thomas McNamee, David Mech, Barry Lopez, and other literary naturalists with an interest in wolf behavior, McIntyre writes with both elegance and flair, making complex biology and ethology a pleasure to read. Fans of wild wolves will eat this one up." —Kirkus starred review

Many people consider the incredibly tireless fieldworker Rick McIntyre to be the most knowledgeable wolf expert in the world. I agree. Rick's meticulous long-term observations of the wolves in Yellowstone National Park and his detailed observations of identified individuals he knew well and followed for many years are unprecedented.¹

For many years, I've thought of Rick as the "go-to guy" for all things wolf, and last year I had the pleasure of interviewing him about his highly acclaimed book called The Rise of Wolf 8: Witnessing the Triumph of Yellowstone's Underdog, an Amazon Best Science Book of 2019 and an incredibly detailed account of wolf behavior and the social dynamics among individuals within and between Yellowstone wolf packs, many of whom were rather, and surprisingly, playful.

Wolf 21 on the run.

Source: Doug Dance, used with permission

Rick's newest book, The Reign of Wolf 21: The Saga of Yellowstone's Legendary Druid Pack, is now available and I'm thrilled he agreed to answer a few questions about "this compelling follow-up to the national bestseller The Rise of Wolf 8," in which he "profiles one of Yellowstone’s most revered alpha males, Wolf 21. Leader of the Druid Peak Pack, Wolf 21 was known for his unwavering bravery, his unusual benevolence (unlike other alphas, he never killed defeated rival males), and his fierce commitment to his mate, the formidable Wolf 42."

Reading Rick's books feels like watching a movie that's a collection of lupine biopics. Here's what he had to say about his riveting and unique observations.

Why did you write The Reign of Wolf 21?

My previous book on the Yellowstone wolves, The Rise of Wolf 8, covered the 1995 reintroduction of wolves to the park. The main character was wolf 8 who arrived in the park as a pup at the start of the reintroduction. When he was 18 months old, he joined a wolf pack whose alpha male had been illegally killed. That pack consisted of a mother wolf and eight pups, about six months old. Since 8 was the only adult male in the group, he became the family’s alpha male and raised those eight pups like he was their biological father.

Source: Greystone Books, used with permission

One of those pups became known as wolf 21. He grew up to be much bigger than wolf 8 but always deferred to him as a higher-ranking male. When 21 was a yearling he saw 8 defeat a larger alpha male then spare his life, something that would influence his behavior for the rest of his life. The following year he left home and joined a neighboring group of wolves known as the Druid Peak Pack. Their alpha male had just died so, like 8, he became their new alpha male on acceptance into the family. There were five pups in that pack and also like wolf 8, 21 raised them like they were his own offspring.

The Reign of Wolf 21 is about how I watched 21 for the rest of his long life and learned a tremendous amount about the social life of wolves, individual differences among a family of related wolves, and how certain experiences seemed to shape behavior. For example, 21 never lost a fight with another male wolf, but always spared the rival’s life, modeling what he had seen 8 do.

What are some of the topics and who are some of the wolves you discuss in your book?

I witnessed an initial pattern of aggression among the females in the Druid pack and later documented far more cases of cooperation. There were three adult sisters in the family when 21 joined the group: wolves 40, 41, and 42, and one of them had an extremely aggressive personality. 40 drove off her mother then did the same to sister 41. After that, she repeatedly attacked 42 and on two occasions killed her newborn pups.

Wolf 21 had a cooperative personality that was similar to 42’s and I could see that he was far more bonded with her than with 40. But he seemed to have an inhibition against doing any harm to a female. That meant 42 would have to find a way to deal with her sister. I saw that 42 treated the younger females in the family fairly and built up an alliance with them. Those females had their own reasons to side with 42 for 40 had been overly aggressive with them as well.

That alliance saved 42 the third time she had pups. I saw 40 go into the forest where her sister was denning late one day. The following morning, I found 40’s battered and bloody body near the park road. Wolf bites covered her entire body, far more than what could have been inflicted by one wolf. It appeared that 40 had gone to 42’s den with the intent of once more killing her sister’s pups, but apparently, 42 and her allies attacked and mortally wounded her.

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Soon after that, 21 took 42 to 40’s den in a forested area. 42 spent an hour there then returned to her den. I then saw 42 carry her pups one by one to 40’s site and later documented that she was raising her sister’s pups alongside her own litter. A third female had pups that spring. 42 got her to bring them to that central location and all three litters were raised communally. That year, the pack had a much higher rate of pup survival than during the years 40 was the alpha female. To me, that was evidence of how 42 was a more effective alpha female than her sister.

Who was the leader of that pack, 21 the alpha male, or 42 the alpha female?

Over the next few years, I continued to watch and study 21, 42, and the other Druid wolves. It became clear that 42 was the true leader of the pack, not 21. She appeared to make all the major decisions in the pack such as where to den and where to move the pups when they got older.

That leadership extended to far more areas, including where to hunt. One day, I watched the pack sleeping. Wolf 21 got up and wanted to go on a hunt to the east. He went that way, but nobody followed him. He tried eight times to get the others to go east but they ignored him. Then 42 went west and all the other wolves immediately followed her, including 21. I also found that alpha females were the leaders of other packs I have studied. You could say that that males like 21 just worked for the alpha female.

Wolf 21 was very tough when it came to protecting his family but had a playful side to his personality. He spent a lot of time playing with his pups and repeatedly would pretend that they had beaten him in chasing and wrestling games. I recall a time when he ran around in circles near his pups, then did a pratfall in front of them, like a movie comedian.

What was the relationship of 21 and 42 like?

Both lived long lives for wild wolves. The average life span in Yellowstone is about 4 to 5 years but 21 and 42 lived twice as long as that average. They spend two-thirds of their lives together and were very attached to each other. That was especially true when they got older and all the other pack members were much younger than they were.

42 died first but at a site far away from 21. We knew that she was dead, but he did not, only that she was missing. He searched the pack’s territory for her but never found the site where she died. He appeared to be losing interest in life during that time and one day stopped hunting, something that had been a lifelong activity.

That was the last time I saw him alive. He left his family and disappeared. Months later, we found out where he went and visited the site. It is not fair to readers to spoil the ending of the book, but I can say he went to a high elevation meadow where he and 42 had spent many days together with their pups and other pack members.

Were the other male wolves you studied in Yellowstone like 21?

Some were and some were not. When 21 was middle-aged, a young male who was his nephew, wolf 302, came into the Druid territory during the mating season. That year, 21 had a lot of daughters and most of them flocked to the newly arrived male. 302 got several of them pregnant then abandoned them. From DNA analysis, we later determined that 21 raised five pups that year that were sired by 302. Despite being closely related 21 and 302 in many ways acted in totally opposite ways, especially regarding taking on responsibilities.

I kept track of 302 over his long life and saw many cases of how he was so different from 21. For example, as an adult wolf, he developed what seemed to be a phobia about bull elk. Elk are the main prey for Yellowstone wolves but 302 grew afraid of approaching bull elk carcasses and would steal food from pups and other pack members so that he would not have to approach a carcass.

Years later, 302 surprised us by gradually becoming more like his uncle and eventually became a successful alpha male of his own pack. The full story of how he changed so radically over the years will be told in my next book.

To sum up, I have now watched and studied the Yellowstone wolves for over 25 years and wanted to share what I have learned with readers. Wolf personalities, cooperative behavior, and leadership are what The Reign of Wolf 21 is all about.