Must read! Very interesting study about Wolves!!

[Guest guest]

Wolf Leftovers Benefit Other Animals - US Study

------

 

USA: November 6, 2003

 

 

WASHINGTON - Leaving leftovers may be a good thing, at least if you are a

wolf, U.S. researchers said this week.

 

 

 

Two studies from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley

suggest that gray wolves benefit other carnivores by leaving behind

half-eaten carcasses.

 

The studies, published in the Journal of Animal Ecology and Ecology Letters,

may help support the controversial decision to release wolves into

Yellowstone National Park in 1995, the researchers said.

 

Bears and mountain lions will hang out on top of their prey, protecting it

from scavengers while they make a leisurely meal, the researchers said. But

not wolves.

 

" What happens is that wolves can only eat about 20 pounds (10 kg) of meat

before they need to lie down and let the food digest, " said Christopher

Wilmers, a doctoral student in ecosystem sciences who worked on both

studies.

 

" So while the wolves move away from the carcass to sleep off their meal,

scavengers move in to consume the leftovers, " Wilmers added in a statement.

 

Wolves, once found everywhere in North America, were nearly wiped out by

1970. When the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service first proposed the

reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone in 1987, opponents predicted the

predators would decimate elk, deer and moose populations.

 

Wilmers and colleagues studied gray wolves in Yellowstone - a large national

park that spans parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho - from 1998 to 2001.

 

They tracked packs to their kill sites and watched what and how they ate.

They analyzed 200 carcasses - from a safe distance, using a scope.

 

The worse the weather, the more scraps the wolves left for others to share,

they found.

 

" The deeper the snow, the harder it is for prey animals like elk, moose and

deer, to get to vegetation on the ground, " said Wilmers.

 

" They get weaker, making them easier prey for top predators like wolves. So

food becomes plentiful for wolves during the winter, particularly harsh

ones. And when food is plentiful, wolves tend to leave more meat for others

to share. "

 

Wilmers said before the wolves were reintroduced to the Yellowstone, elk and

deer would starve to death toward the end of winter, leaving a glut of

carcasses that often would rot.

 

" The wolves are doing their job as top predators by culling out weak

individuals gradually throughout the year, " he said.

 

 

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE