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This study examines three factors encouraging wolf (Canis lupus) dispersal: prey abundnance, age of the animals, and their sex. Factors are related to the frequency at which wolves (n = 54) dissociated from their packs and (or) engaged in extraterritorial movements. From December to April, radio-collared pup, yearling, and adult pack members were observed alone in 28, 57, and 21% of the observations, respectively. A low prey base did not increase solitary living or excursion frequency of pups, did increase both traits in yearlings, and increased only solitary living among adults. Yearling and adult females were dissociated from their packs more frequently than males. Yearling females travelled more frequently outside their territories than did yearling males. On average, pup, yearling, and adult individuals made 1.1, 3.0, and 1.0 extraterritorial excursions per year, respectively. Such movements, mostly in winter, are interpreted as predispersal forays (failed dispersal), but also as an immediate action to survive through a temporary resource failure. Dispersal in wolves appears as a gradual and dynamic dissociation process extended over a period of a few months to a few years and beginning as early as 10 months of age. During extraterritorial movements, solitary wolves did not use areas between pack territories more intensively. A total of 23 pack excursions were witnessed, significantly more in the low prey area.
François Messier (Fri,) studied this question.