While Dr. Hinton progressed along his career as a wolf biologist – from intern to master’s student to PhD student – the Kilkenny female (11170F) matured from a young teenage wolf into an Alpha female. While Hinton spent time tracking and watching the Kilkenny female, a new idea started crystallizing in his mind about what factors made the difference between a wolf deciding to breed with another wolf, versus hybridizing with a coyote.