Watching The World Of Wolves At Yellowstone

by Patricia Collier

Reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park is providing new insights into wolf behavior and social structure.

Yellowstone reportedly now has the highest density in the world of the Northern Rocky Mountain wolf, a subspecies of the gray wolf (Canis lupus.) The wolves are being tagged and monitored via satellite. Yellowstone’s open landscape gives researchers a greater opportunity to observe wolf behaviors that previously eluded them, such as prey kills.

Hunting prey is typically a dangerous task for wolves. Unlike the grizzly bear with size and large paws in his arsenal, the wolf has only teeth to hunt for its food. Wolves hunt in packs and it can take several wolves to fall a Bison or an eight hundred pound Elk. Wolves are frequently injured or killed while hunting their prey.

Wolves have been observed watching their prey before hunting and targeting the slower and weaker animals in the herd. This is significant because previously it was thought wolves simply went after herd members that fell behind.

Gray wolves were native to Yellowstone when the park was established in 1872 but by the 1970s, scientists could find no evidence of a wolf population in the world’s first national park.

The new legislation has enabled the wolves to return and has facilitated the restoration of the area to a pre-settlement ecosystem.

The gradual increase in wolf population also allows researchers to provide the public with a clearer picture of an often misunderstood species.

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.