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The Rocky Mountain wolf populations of the United States are increasing in areas which contain wolf-dog hybrids, wild coyotes, domestic dogs and captive wolves. The presence of wolf-like canids can impact measures of wolf recovery and cause many social, legal and forensic issues for wildlife agencies.

Molecular genetics provides evidence of hybridization between gray wolves and coyotes in the US and Canadian Great Lakes region, but the unidirectionality of male wolf/female coyote hybridization is ill understood. A new study investigates whether similar patterns of hybridization between the two species occurs in the Rocky Mountains. The study uses mitochondrial DNA to differentiate coyote and wolf haplotypes. It is shown that all 90 wolves studied had wolf haplotypes and have not hybridized with coyotes.

The recolonization by wolves of northwestern Montana and southeastern British Columbia is described. The aim of the study was to document reproduction, survival, immigration and dispersal. It found that in high density populations the sex ration of offspring favoured males, but females were favoured in lower density populations. Pup production was relatively high, and pack size and surviving litter size were positively correlated. Survival was mostly higher within their territories, with lower survival rates of dispersing wolves.

Wolves (Canis lupus) colonizing the northwestern US preferred old and juvenile white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and elk as (Cervus elaphus) prey. The preference for old and juvenile prey differs from prey selection patterns of human hunters. Colonizing wolf populations in Glacier National Park in Montana also preyed upon male deer and elk, consuming carcasses completely during winters featuring light snowfall.

Gray wolves have recolonized the Canadian Rockies and Montana from the 1980s, and a wolf population in Montana has been observed to monitor dispersal behavior. Wolves tended to disperse rapidly if they left the pack. The average age for females to disperse was 38.4 months for females, and 28.7 months for males. They tended to travel north to areas where there was a greater density of wolves. Wolves that dispersed tended to have more litters than those that stayed.