Beyond home: Preliminary data on wolf extraterritorial forays and dispersal in Central Italy

Extraterritorial forays in wolves (Canis lupus) have rarely been documented, especially in human-modified landscapes of southern and central Europe. Integrating information on extraterritorial forays is currently enhanced by Global Positioning System (GPS) telemetry and contributes to our knowledge of the spatial dynamics of wolf populations. We hereby report GPS-revealed extraterritorial forays performed by 4 wolves in 3 packs in the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park (central Apennines, Italy, 2009-2010). Wolves engaged in extraterritorial forays almost exclusively during fall and winter, when they occurred on average every 22 days, for relatively brief periods (i.e., ≤4 days) and short distances (i.e., mean minimum travelled distance of 13.3 ± 7.2 SD km). Three extraterritorial forays were later revealed to be pre-dispersal movements, featuring longer duration and higher travelled distances than other extraterritorial forays and occurring 33-17 days prior to dispersal. We also anecdotally report two cases of dispersal, one involving an adult female that travelled 41.2 km to establish a new territory adjacent to her natal home range, and the other involving a yearling male that travelled a minimum of 422.2 km to the adjacent Majella National Park.