- Autumn, Year 3 - It is now about a month into autumn. The weather is quickly turning cooler and snow is becoming far more common in the mountains. Some of the hare and other pet species are beginning to grow their winter coats and our team is making plans to tear down our camp for the winter.
Most important to note is that Areki’s wound has finally healed. Although she didn’t let it get in the way of her joining the hunts, she spent far more time resting than normal. We were quite worried about her but she did pull through after many weeks of suffering.
We have not observed any other wounds on the wolves, neither adults nor pups. The new Litter is growing surprisingly large. They are lanky adolescents now, but rival Areki in size and seem quite likely to catch up to their older brothers in size quite soon.
The pack is dividing, somewhat. Although the pups are now old enough to accompany the family on hunts and learn their place in the pack, they are quite energetic and even domineering when the family is together. Areki is certainly becoming more distant when they are not hunting; previously she really only contended with the dominance of the other four family members but now has eight to contend with. It is already quite clear the new Litter will be dominant overall her. More surprisingly however is the growing distance of the older brothers from the growing pups and their parents. Although they are older and undeniably have more experience, their younger siblings are already challenging them for dominance and their size gives them an edge that will only continue to grow.
We deeply hope that the family stays together, but as the team prepares to leave for the coming winter we know that when we return this second litter will have grown into adults and that the pack structure may look very different.
