Amazing moment: researchers stumble across wolf pups in a massive beaver lodge #Video

Probably one of the coolest moments we have had in the field…stumbling upon wolf pups sleeping at the entrance of their den which was a huge old beaver lodge.

On this particular day in early May, we were searching clusters of GPS-locations from a collared wolf in this pack to find where it had killed prey. The wolf was a subordinate male wolf and had only spent a few hours on the edge of this beaver meadow so we assumed he was just resting here. I.e., there were no indications, based on the wolf’s movements, that this was a den.

We hiked along the meadow edge for a bit and as we got close to where the GPS-locations from the wolf were, an uncollared wolf popped up out of the grass by the lodge about 50 meters away and ran into the forest.
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hat seemed far too coincidental…what are the odds that the GPS-collared wolf had been in this spot a few days ago and now, when we arrive there was a different wolf here. As a result, we immediately started to think the lodge could be a den.

We approached the lodge and pulled out our phone to record what we observed. We rounded a side of the lodge, approached the entrance, and we found these 4 pups sounds asleep. What a wild few moments.

Of course, we thought this was especially interesting, in part, because the wolves were using a massive beaver lodge—i.e.., the home of one of their primary summer prey—as a den to raise their pups, which then would go onto to hunt and kill beavers as adults.
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