Junction Bute Pack Video

Food Trasport

Rather than carrying meat from a kill miles back to the den for the pups, adult wolves will swallow it and carry it back in their stomachs and bring it back up partially digested for the pups. These wolves are carrying the meat back, which means the pups are likely very close by. 

When female wolves have pups, the entire pack is responsible for bringing them up, teaching, and protecting them. Wolves will rarely make a kill within a mile of the den. This is due to the threat of bears coming in to try to feed on the carcasses and finding the pups and killing them. This means that wolves will make kill up to 30 miles or more away from the den. They get all this meat back to the den by carrying up to 20lb of it in their stomach. When they get back to the den they will regurgitate the meat with a consistency of stew meat. A wolfes stomick is specially adapted to delay digestion for up to three hours allowing them to bring meat back to the den. 

When wolves walk through a herd of bison, the bison often don't react. This is because the bison can sense that the wolves are not hunting. However, in this video, the bison are reacting to the wolves, likely because they have young calves to protect.