Park?s wolves eating more bull elk

[LifeNRA]

Park?s wolves eating more bull elk

By MIKE STARK

Of The Gazette Staff

During the first nine years after wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park, bull elk could assume that the new predators would feast mostly on females and calves.

Suddenly, it seems, the bulls aren't so safe.

A survey of wolves and their eating habits this winter shows that bull elk now make up a majority of the wolves' diet, according to Doug Smith, Yellowstone's lead wolf biologist.

?It's a really big switch this year,? Smith said. ?It's absolutely fascinating.?

Where bulls might have contributed to 5 percent of wolves' early winter diet in the past, they now make up about 60 percent, according to preliminary figures. That means wolves are taking fewer females and young elk.

The study also showed that wolves are having a harder time finding food as their numbers increase, especially on the Northern Range. At one kill site on the territorial boundary of several packs, four packs stopped by for a bite.

?Now that's competition for food,? Smith said. ?Wolves are spending more time competing for food than they are getting food, we think.?

Biologists conduct early winter and late winter studies of wolves and prey selection each year. The park's wolf program now has 10 years of data, so any shift in eating habits jumps out quickly, Smith said.

The latest patterns may be the result of several factors.

Six years of drought means that bulls tend to enter the fall rut weaker because nutritious food is harder to find. With the rigor of the rut, the bull elk are that much more tired as winter starts - something that wolves apparently picked up on this year.

Bulls can be tougher to kill but, if they're already weak, it's worth it.

?There's much more payoff to take a bull,? Smith said.

Less snow in the winter also gives an advantage to the elk. In the winter, wolves rely on their wide paws to move quickly across the snow as elk hooves punch through the snow and get bogged down.

Smith said he recently watched an elk outrun wolves over two miles of dry land.

?If there had been much snow, the wolves would've gotten it,? he said.

Increased competition and greater difficulty catching elk has led to a shrinking diet for many wolves and, in some cases, less weight.

At the end of 2004, there were about 170 wolves in 15 packs throughout the park, down from 174 the year before. Wildlife officials believe the park's wolf population may have reached a plateau and that competition among packs could be a factor.

[stevebeilgard]

Re: Park?s wolves eating more bull elk

hope they all die.

[Strut10]

Re: Park?s wolves eating more bull elk

Chalk up another victory for the eco-weenies.

Minnesota.........Wisconsin..........Michigan..........New York..........Maine............you're all next.

[wtnhunt]

Re: Park?s wolves eating more bull elk

Pretty interesting that they would go after the bulls even if they were weaker from the rut.