Two gray wolves have made their home in Siskiyou County and researchers are now working to confirm if they’re a mated pair.
The male, OR-85, has been tracked by scientists since last year, but the presence of the second wolf wasn’t known until the pair was seen on a trail cam in November.
The two wolves have been frequenting the area since then, but it now looks like they’ve decided to settle. The two have been named the Whaleback Pair, after a local mountain.
Kent Laudon is a wolf specialist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, who monitors the small California wolf population. He said more testing needs to be done before researchers can confirm that the second wolf is female.
“The hair genetics, it’s an incomplete profile,” he said. “(But) our geneticist informs us that it’s consistent with a female.”
Laudon said there may be another way to verify that this is a breeding pair. The gestation period for wolves is short – just 63 days. Heexpects that there may be pups next month.
If that does happen this would be the second pack known to have established in California. The other, known as the Lassen Pack, appeared in 2017 and at last count numbered six individuals.
