Call it a change in taste. After an early-winter preference for young elk, wolves in Yellowstone National Park have turned their attention to killing older bulls.
Doug Smith, the park's lead wolf biologist, said the wolves' out-of-the-ordinary emphasis on elk calves in November and December was followed by a more typical diet of large male elk last month.
"This is right in line with what they do in March," Smith said.
The wolves' diet late last year raised a few eyebrows. A survey by park biologists showed about 75 percent of the wolf kills were calves, 15 percent were bulls and about 10 percent were females. There was some speculation that the early mild conditions made it harder for wolves to get adult elk, so they turned to calves.
But in March, about half of the kills were bulls, roughly 25 percent were calves and 25 percent were adult females, Smith said.
The surveys are conducted every December and March to get an idea of what wolves are eating and how the overall population is faring.
Meanwhile, competition continues to be fierce among Yellowstone's wolves. Packs, especially on the crowded Northern Range, are vying for limited space and food.
"There's quite a bit of strife," Smith said.
The Leopold pack, with 18 or 19 members, still dominates the Northern Range.
Smaller packs are being pushed around as they look for a slice of territory.
There are now an estimated 117 wolves in Yellowstone, compared with 136 counted earlier in the winter.
That's down from a high of about 170 in 2004.
Canine disease, which took a toll on the wolf population in 2005, hasn't had much of a presence in the last year or so. Mange has hit two members of Mollie's pack but hasn't yet spread to other packs, Smith said.
Disease, fights between packs, food scarcity and other factors will continue to limit the wolf population in Yellowstone, Smith said.
"Over time there will be fewer wolves and fewer packs in the park," he said.
Published on Thursday, April 26, 2007. Last modified on 4/26/2007 at 12:18 am
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Marion
wrote on
April 26, 2007 6:44 AM Hmmm, Wasn't it last year that Smith started the study on the weather to see why the wolves are killing so many bulls?
We need a graph to try to follow this, just too much bull.
Fewer packs and fewer wolves when they are requiring Wyoming to have 8 there for all time?
outback
wrote on
April 26, 2007 7:22 AM The FWS can munipulate the statistics anyway they want to be in favor of their agenda. Let an unbiased agency do the studies. They are not to be trusted on any level.
CG
wrote on
April 26, 2007 8:13 AM A wolf diet? Hum, I wonder what wolf meat tastes like? I might have to try that.
Dang
wrote on
April 26, 2007 8:13 AM and I was hoping the wolves would get addicted to eating greenies.
RM
wrote on
April 26, 2007 8:47 AM Everyone knows that wolves only eat the sick and diseased.
Biologist Betty + Bart says:
wrote on
April 26, 2007 10:27 AM Yes, this is quite common. Wolves like to prey on all the larger varieties of animal first and then go after the prey that is easiest. That's why little fish in the ocean always go after the big fish to eat. It just makes sense. The elk calves are safe now because the wolves are after the bulls with horns. They are easier to kill and better eating. Yep, that's it.
dhinNM
wrote on
April 26, 2007 12:44 PM By Virginia's letter and the blogs that followed, I was led to believe wolves ate only small children and pets.
Dear dhimNM
wrote on
April 26, 2007 2:36 PM Do you have any small pets to donate to the cause? We all need to do our part in some small way. I'm hoping you don't have any children because they might inherit thier parents intellectual characteristics. That would not probably be good as far as hoping they contribute to the society as a whole. As far as what wolves eat? It is probably easier to make that list of what they don't eat. Let's see...what do packs of wolves like to eat? That would be anything that is warm and has blood. They are not too picky. Maybe we could have you come up to wolf country and do a little field work up close. You could give you educated opinion then.
smokey
wrote on
April 26, 2007 4:37 PM where do they find these park biologists? A little common sense dictates that the wolves kill the slowest or the weakest. When they run out of calves, they eat the adults, and more males as they tend to hang in smaller groups. But, its a good way to waste alot of money paying biologists to "pretend". Makes me sick to see what is happening to the yellowstone elk herd with the intro of the wolves. Now we well never get rid of them. When the yellowstone elk herd finally crashes, what will the wolves eat? BEEF
kamya
wrote on
April 27, 2007 12:02 PM I like your pictures on yellow stone. So how are you today?
!!!
wrote on
April 27, 2007 12:55 PM Outback~
I would trust the FWS before I'd trust the rednecks that just want to run around and shoot all the wolves! You're just mad because if the wolves EAT some of the elk you can't "play" with your big guns and hunt them yourself.
Cathy
wrote on
April 27, 2007 1:11 PM I`d rather have a bunch of wild, social and smart wolves around to control the elk herds than a bunch of drunk men who harass land owners and animals all day. Wolves are nature`s filters for sick, old and weak animals. People are just primates gone wrong.
oldwest
wrote on
April 27, 2007 1:43 PM If the wolves are only killing the weak, sick, and old, the herd of 19,000 that is now 6000 or less must have been in pretty bad shape. Of course none of that explains why the single digit calf/cow survival rate does it?
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