{{Short description|Female gray wolf and hunting victim}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}} {{Infobox animal | name = O-Six | image = File:Members of the Lamar Canyon Pack in March 2012 crop.webp | image_upright = | caption = The "O-Six" Female (right) pictured in March 2012 alongside her mate 755M (center) and his brother 754M (left) | othername = 832F<br>The 06 Female<br>She Wolf | species = Gray wolf (''Canis lupus'') | gender = Female | birth_date = April 2006 | birth_place = Lamar River Valley, Yellowstone National Park | death_date = 6 December 2012<ref name= Smithetal2013>{{cite report |last=Smith, D.W., D.R. Stahler, E. Stahler, M. Metz, K. Quimby, R. McIntyre, C. Ruhl, H. Martin, R. Kindermann, N. Bowersock, and M. McDevitt|url=https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/upload/wolf_ar_2012_final.pdf|title=Yellowstone Wolf Project—2012 Annual Report |publisher=National Park Service, Yellowstone Center for Resources, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, YCR-2013-02|date=2013}}</ref> (6 years 8 months) | death_place = Wyoming, Sunlight Unit<ref name="HarvestSummary2013">{{cite web |author=National Park Service|date=2013|title=Legal wolf harvests near Yellowstone National Park (YNP) as of 3/1/2013 |url=https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/upload/2013_3_01wolf_harvest_summary.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416021553/https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/upload/2013_3_01wolf_harvest_summary.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 April 2016|access-date=1 April 2023}}</ref> | death_cause = Legal harvest via firearm<ref name= Smithetal2013/> | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | years_active = | known_for = Lead female of the Lamar Canyon Pack (2010 - 2012)<br>Highly visible and photographed<br>The impact her death had across the world | title = | residence = Yellowstone National Park | parents = 472F (mother)<br>113M (father) | mate = 755M | children = 3 litters of pups (2010, 2011 and 2012)<br>926F (Spitfire) (in the 2011 litter) | weight = | height = | appearance = }} '''O-Six''' (2006–2012), also known as '''832F''' or '''"The 06 Female"''', was a female gray wolf, whose death by hunting just outside the protected area of Yellowstone National Park stirred debate about the hunting and protection of wolves in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. The bestselling book ''American Wolf'' focused on O-Six's life and on conservation policies in the Yellowstone region.
==Life== O-Six (named after the year of her birth).<ref name="McIntyre1">{{cite book |last=McIntyre |first=Rick |title=The alpha female wolf : the fierce legacy of Yellowstone's 06 |date=2022 |publisher=Greystone Books |isbn=9781771648592}}</ref> was for several years [2010 - 2012] the dominant breeding female of the Lamar Canyon pack in Yellowstone National Park. Born in 2006 in the Agate Creek pack to Agate Creek Wolves #113M (born a Chief Joseph Wolf in 1997) and Wolf #472F (born a Druid Peak wolf in 2000),<ref name="Vonholdt2022">{{cite bioRxiv |last1=vonHoldt |first1=Bridgett M. |last2=DeCandia |first2=Alexandra L. |last3=Cassidy |first3=Kira A. |last4=Stahler |first4=Erin E. |last5=Sinsheimer |first5=Janet S. |last6=Smith |first6=Douglas W. |last7=Stahler |first7=Daniel R. |title=High retention of genomic variation and fitness-related traits in the effective population of reintroduced wolves in Yellowstone National Park |date=20 February 2022 |biorxiv=10.1101/2022.02.18.481090 |postscript=(Preprint)}}</ref><ref name="blakeslee45">{{cite book |last1=Blakeslee |first1=Nate |title=American Wolf |date=2017 |publisher=Crown |isbn=978-1-101-90279-0 |page=45}}</ref><ref name="halppenny1">{{cite book |last1=Halfpenny |first1=James |last2=Leckie |first2=Leo |last3=Baron |first3=Shauna |title=Charting Yellowstone Wolves : 25th Anniversary |date=2020 |isbn=979-8622004537 |pages=155, 191, 245|publisher=A Naturalist's World }}</ref> she was principally known by the year of her birth.<ref>Blakeslee, p. 65</ref> She was a member of the fourth generation of wolves born in Yellowstone after the 1995 reintroduction of wolves to the park.<ref>Blakeslee, pp. 12, 14</ref> Leaving her birth pack to claim new territory, she established the Lamar Canyon pack as a three-year-old in 2010. The pack's territory in the easily accessible Lamar River Valley (named after Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar) allowed tourists and wolf researchers to observe and extensively document the activities and behaviours of the wolves. As the dominant breeding female ("alpha female"), O-Six was one of the most visible and photographed wolves in Yellowstone and was described as a "rock star."<ref>Blakeslee, p. 238</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Schweber |first1=Nate |title='Famous' Wolf Is Killed Outside Yellowstone |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/science/earth/famous-wolf-is-killed-outside-yellowstone.html?ref=nateschweber |work=New York Times |date=December 8, 2012}}</ref> She was famous for hunting and taking down elk by herself, which is extremely rare as wolves usually hunt in packs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Spencer |first=Keith A. |date=2017-11-20 |title=How O-Six became the "most famous wolf" in the world |url=https://www.salon.com/2017/11/19/how-o-six-became-the-most-famous-wolf-in-the-world/ |access-date=2023-04-22 |website=Salon |language=en}}</ref>
After several years, O-Six was captured, fitted with a radio-tracking collar and released, gaining the collar number 832F.<ref>Blakeslee, p. 139</ref> She produced three litters of pups with her mate, Wolf #755M, before the Lamar Canyon pack was displaced by another wolf pack. Wandering into new territory, the remaining pack members, including O-Six, left the park, where no hunting is allowed, and appeared on private land to the east, near Crandall, Wyoming, during Wyoming's 2012 wolf hunting season. The allowed take in that season was eight wolves. She was shot by a hunter on December 6, 2012, the eighth wolf to be legally killed in Wyoming in 2012.<ref>Blakeslee, p. 7, pp. 229-233</ref>
==Legacy== The death of O-Six was immediately reported in the ''New York Times'', leading to extensive coverage of O-Six and wolf-hunting policies surrounding Yellowstone.<ref>Blakeslee, pp. 236-239</ref><ref name="ng1">{{cite news |last1=Ng |first1=Christina |title=Yellowstone's 'Famous' Alpha Wolf Shot and Killed |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/yellowstones-famous-alpha-female-wolf-shot-killed-hunter/story?id=17925005 |accessdate=23 January 2020 |publisher=ABC News |date=December 10, 2012}}</ref><ref name="hull1">{{cite web |last1=Hull |first1=Jeff |title=The Death of 832F, Yellowstone's Most Famous Wolf |url=https://www.outsideonline.com/1913831/out-bounds-death-832f-yellowstones-most-famous-wolf |website=Outside Online |date=13 February 2013 |accessdate=23 January 2020 |ref=February 13, 2013}}</ref><ref name="williams1">{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Matt |date=December 9, 2012 |title=Yellowstone's popular alpha female wolf shot dead by hunters outside park |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/dec/09/yellowstone-female-wolf-dead-hunters |accessdate=23 January 2020}}</ref> Following the publication of the bestselling book ''American Wolf'' by Nate Blakeslee in 2017, which focused on O-Six's life, O-Six received additional media coverage,<ref name="worrall1">{{cite news |last1=Worrall |first1=Simon |title=The 'Most Famous Wolf in the World' Lived Hard—and Died Tragically |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/11/american-wolf-nate-blakeslee-yellowstone-hunting/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920071955/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/11/american-wolf-nate-blakeslee-yellowstone-hunting/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 September 2020 |accessdate=23 January 2020 |publisher=National Geographic |date=November 11, 2017}}</ref> and was the subject of a ''National Geographic'' documentary.<ref>Blakeslee, p.239</ref> More coverage followed the shooting of O-Six's daughter 926F in Montana in 2018.<ref name="robbins1">{{cite news |last1=Robbins |first1=Jim |title=A Famous Alpha Wolf's Daughter, Spitfire, Is Killed by a Hunter |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/30/science/wolf-spitfire-killed.html |accessdate=23 January 2020 |work=New York Times |date=November 30, 2018}}</ref><ref name="horton1">{{cite news |last1=Horton |first1=Alex |title=A hunter killed a legendary Yellowstone wolf. Years later, her cub died the same way. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2018/12/02/hunter-killed-legendary-yellowstone-wolf-years-later-her-daughter-died-same-way/ |accessdate=23 January 2020 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=December 2, 2018}}</ref>
==See also== * 302M - Another Yellowstone Wolf. * History of wolves in Yellowstone * List of wolves
==References== {{reflist}}
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Category:2006 animal births Category:2012 animal deaths Category:Individual wolves Category:Individual animals in the United States Category:Wolves in the United States