Yowlumni Pack
Template:Prod llm/dated The Yowlumni Pack is a gray wolf (Canis lupus) pack inhabiting Giant Sequoia National Monument and adjacent lands in Tulare County, California in Central California. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) confirmed the pack in August 2023, making it the southernmost wolf pack documented in California in modern times, approximately 200 miles (320 km) south of the nearest previously known California pack.[1]
The pack's breeding female, YOW01F, is a direct descendant of OR-7, the first wolf confirmed in California since the 1920s. The breeding male, LAS24M, was born to the Lassen Pack during its 2020 litters.[2]
CDFW and the Tule River Indian Tribe jointly named the pack on December 14, 2023, after the Yowlumni band of the Yawelmani Yokuts, whose ancestral territory overlaps the pack's home range. A tribal elder shared that the Yowlumni people referred to their language as the "Wolf Tongue."[2] The pack produced litters in 2023 and 2024. A sarcoptic mange outbreak beginning in late 2024 resulted in the death of YOW01F in September 2025.[3]
Background
OR-7, a GPS-collared male wolf from Oregon's Imnaha Pack, crossed into California in December 2011, becoming the first confirmed wild wolf in the state in 87 years.[4] He eventually returned to Oregon. YOW01F, the Yowlumni Pack's founding female, is genetically identified as a direct OR-7 descendant, though the specific generational path of her dispersal into California has not been publicly detailed by CDFW.[1]
LAS24M, the founding male, was born to the Lassen Pack in 2020, the offspring of LAS16M, the pack's second breeding male. The Lassen Pack was confirmed in Lassen County in 2016 and produced annual litters through 2022; LAS24M dispersed several hundred miles south before establishing territory in Tulare County.[2]
Confirmation and naming (2023)
CDFW received sightings and images of wolves in Tulare County from members of the public and environmental consultants in July 2023. Biologists confirmed a resident pack on August 11, 2023, identifying it as the southernmost wolf pack in modern California history.[1] At confirmation, the pack consisted of at least one breeding pair and four pups.[1] Subsequent genetic and tracking analysis identified LAS24M as the breeding male and YOW01F as the breeding female, and confirmed the pack was larger than initially assessed, with six pups surviving from the 2023 litter.[5]
On December 5, 2023, CDFW biologists captured and collared three pack members – YOW01F (breeding female), YOW03F (a yearling female), and YOW06M (a yearling male) – enabling continuous GPS monitoring of the pack.[2]
On December 14, 2023, CDFW and the Tule River Indian Tribe jointly announced the pack's name.[2] The name Yowlumni refers to the Yawelmani Yokuts band of the Tule River Indian Tribe, whose reservation borders the pack's territory in the Giant Sequoia National Monument. A tribal elder shared that the Yowlumni language was known among its speakers as the "Wolf Tongue," a connection the tribe cited in the naming.[6]
Expansion (2024)
The pack produced seven pups in 2024, its largest litter on record.[7]
Mange outbreak (2024–2025)
Sarcoptic mange was detected in the Yowlumni Pack in late 2024. CDFW confirmed two wolf mortalities within the pack during the first quarter of 2025; the cause of those deaths remained under investigation as of mid-2025.[8] YOW01F, the breeding female and the pack's only collared OR-7 descendant, was found dead in September 2025; CDFW attributed her death to complications from the mange infection.[3] The pack produced no litter in 2025. Wolves continued to be detected within the pack's territory through the end of 2025, though the composition of the surviving group remained uncertain.[3]
Territory
The Yowlumni Pack's home range is centered in the Giant Sequoia National Monument in eastern Tulare County, with portions of its range adjacent to the Tule River Indian Reservation.[2] CDFW telemetry data placed the pack's core activity within approximately 300 square miles (780 km2) of terrain in the southern Sierra Nevada.[7]
At confirmation in August 2023, the Yowlumni Pack was the southernmost wolf pack documented in California since gray wolves were extirpated from the state in the early 20th century, located approximately 200 miles (320 km) south of the nearest previously confirmed pack.[1]
Tribal connection
The pack was named in collaboration with the Tule River Indian Tribe of Tulare County. "Yowlumni" is the name of a band of the Tule River Yokuts native to the Sierra Nevada foothills of Tulare County; the tribe's reservation borders the pack's core range in the Giant Sequoia National Monument.[2] Tribal representatives participated in the naming to reflect the cultural and geographic connection between the pack's territory and the tribe's ancestral lands.[6]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "New Gray Wolf Pack Confirmed in Tulare County". CDFW News (Press release). California Department of Fish and Wildlife. August 11, 2023. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 "CDFW and Tule River Tribe of California Name Recently Discovered Wolf Pack". CDFW News. California Department of Fish and Wildlife. December 14, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "California's Known Wolves — November 2025". CDFW News. California Department of Fish and Wildlife. November 2025.
- ↑ Urness, Zach (April 19, 2020). "OR-7, the most famous wolf in the West, represented promise and peril of grey wolves in Oregon". Salem Statesman Journal. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
- ↑ "Tulare County wolf pack gets a name and is larger than originally believed". The Bakersfield Californian. December 14, 2023. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Local tribe inspires 'Yowlumni' wolf pack name". Sun-Gazette. December 20, 2023. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "California's Southernmost Wolf Pack Thrives, Expands Amidst Challenges". Los Padres ForestWatch. Retrieved April 1, 2025.
- ↑ "Sarcoptic mange threatens survival of Tulare County's Yowlumni pack of gray wolves". International Wolf Center. Retrieved June 1, 2025.
External links
- Gray Wolf, California Department of Fish and Wildlife
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