She would lead the male away only to have him lie down again, and the two would then begin howling. After that, the two would arise and go off again, but sometimes they would repeat this behavior a few times. Rather than join the standing, restless, howling male, this female would continue resting or sleeping without even replying to his howl. Each summer, as the pups got older, the female tended to accompany the male and the rest of the pack for much longer periods. P Traveling Discerning a leader during travel can be complicated by such issues as youthful exuberance and estrus that may cause individuals that might not be directing the overall activity to sometimes surge to the head of the line of traveling Wolves.
Wolves often follow river beds, game trails, and old roads.
During the breeding season, the order of a Wolf in line as the pack travels would be influenced by the fact that the breeding female would be in estrus. Because it was often difficult to navigate the terrain and remain close to the Wolf pack, I could not always identify the first Wolf in line during their travels. Therefore, I restricted my data collecting on this subject to times when I could. In 1993, there were no pups, so the pack was comprised of the breeding pair and three yearlings. In 1996, the only adult-sized Wolves were the breeding pair.