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The yearly rhythms of a pack revolve around the birth and rearing of each season's litter of pups. They are born as winter is loosening its grip on the land, later April and early May is most common, and take all summer and fall to grow into young wolves equipped for the next winter's wanderings. During the easy-going-summer, the pack limits its travels and devotes much attention to its newest members. Weighing about a pound, fuzzy, round-headed, pug-nosed and stump-tailed, the pups start life with their eyes closed, aware of little but their mother's voice, scent, warmth, and tongue, and their siblings' bodies, these stimuli forming lifetime bonds. In about a week their eyes open and after another week they may venture out of the den. For their first two weeks no adult wolf besides the mother is allowed in the den At around a month old, the pups start to range farther out into their world, and at two months or so begin to transition from mother's milk to meat, getting their first servings straight from the mouths of adult wolves. About then, the den is abandoned and the pack moves to a "rendezvous", an outdoor home base where the pups romp and stalk their first insects and mice, until they are old enough to travel with the pack. By fourteen weeks, their tails have filled out, legs and muzzles have lengthened and they have become fair copies of the other pack members. All adults fuss over, play with and feed the pups by the efficient method of regurgitation. Wolves make much of puppies and put up with their pestering graciously. They will also easily adopt young from outside the pack. Once the mother rejoins the pack, a low ranking subordinate is often tagged the babysitter. While it's hard to imagine the hilariously inept pups transformed into tough, capable wolves, their bumbling play in fact hones skills they will depend on all their lives. By the time they are a few months old, littermates have sorted into a social patterns that mimic their adult packmates.