It’s an exciting time for wolves and the WCC — it’s the season of romance! Hormones are racing and hopefully several courtships have already begun. We’re keeping our eye on four breeding pairs (see The Wolf Conservation Center to Host 4 Breeding Pairs This Winter) in hope that we’ll see some promising behavior. Thankfully, we need not rely entirely on eyewitness accounts, our WOLFCAM may help staff, volunteers, and supporters watch some romance between red wolves F1397 and M1483 in real time! These two lovebirds proved fruitful in 2010 and we’re hoping that they are up for round two this season.
In the past week, several dedicated voyeurs contacted us after witnessing some romantic gestures (mounting) between the pair.  While many of us like to include flowers, candy, perhaps a little vino and Barry White in our romantic rituals, wolves have a different set of behaviors that we should watch for:

• one wolf marking over the other’s mark
• nuzzling
• following one another
• parallel walking
• “prancing”
• wrestling
• mounting
• rear sniffing
• resting one’s chin upon another
• tandem urination conveys the same message as a wedding ring!
• wolves in a copulatory “tie” or stuck together —  please contact maggie@nywolf.org ASAP!

If you see any of the above behaviors or something else you find interesting, please share what you’ve witnejavascript:void(0)ssed on this blog or on the WCCs Facebook Page.  And don’t fret, it’s okay to watch!