Header Image: 

Our Wolves

Perkins

Biography

      Perkins was born in the spring of 2005 at the Endangered Wolf Center.  His litter was one of the first successful artificially inseminated litters to be born in the Mexican wolf captive population.  Perkins’ mom, Frijole, one of the most genetically important females in the population at the time, had lived with her mate Alano for five years, but Alano was no longer a good genetic match for her.  Alano and Frijole had a special bond, and so to allow them to stay together as companions, Frijole was artificially inseminated with another male’s semen.  At mid gestation, an ultrasound confirmed that she was pregnant with three pups.  On May 1, 2005, Frijole gave birth to a male (Perkins) and two females (Catella and Nieta de Nina).  The pups were pulled for partial hand rearing due to Frijole’s inability to raise previous litters, her age, and the genetic value of the puppies.  Hand-rearing is a last resort, used only on pups that are extremely genetically valuable to the population.  

      Early on, Perkins set himself apart from his sisters.  His voracious appetite led him to overeat, resulting in bowed legs for a very short period of time as his leg bones could not keep up with the increase in his weight.  He was also the floppy-eared pup – his sisters’ ears stood up long before his.  When actress Betty White joined us for our 2005 Gala, she fell in love with the pups and began our Puppy Naming Club by naming the little male after famed naturalist and founder of Wild Canid, Marlin Perkins.

      Once they were weaned, the pups were returned to Alano to rear.  In the fall of 2005, Frijole was reunited with Alano and introduced to the six-month old puppies. The introduction went very well, and the pack got along well.  DNA testing showed that the semen donor, Dude, was the father of the three pups.  The pair’s two daughters Catella and Nieta de Nina were separated from the pack in 2006 and sent to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. for possible breeding in the future. 

      In 2008, Perkins took part in a reproductive research project conducted by the Saint Louis Zoo.  He was considered a good genetic match for a female named Abby, and served as a semen donor in an attempt to artificially inseminate her.  The attempt was unsuccessful.