Wolves' dinners in Voyageurs NP composed of beavers, blueberries

Discuss wolves. (News, sightings, conservation, status, etc.)

Moderators: Isela, Koa

Post Reply
User avatar
Koa
WolfQuest Moderator
WolfQuest Moderator
Posts: 13101
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:53 pm
Gender: Female
Location: washington, d.c.
Contact:

Wolves' dinners in Voyageurs NP composed of beavers, blueberries

Post by Koa » Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:48 pm

Voyageurs Park wolves eating beaver and blueberries, but not moose
By John Myers, Dec. 5, 2018
BRAINERD DISPATCH


VOYAGEURS NATIONAL PARK -- When they aren’t identifying record large trees in the forest, Thomas Gable and Austin Homkes’ day job is wolf research, trying to untangle the complex, mostly unknown relationship between wolves and beaver in Voyageurs National Park.

They live-trap wolves and place GPS collars on them in the early spring and then follow the packs around from April to October, checking out exactly what wolves eat.

Researchers have known for decades that wolves eat beaver, but not how much. What Gable and Homkes found is that some wolves are getting nearly half their summer meals from beaver.
Read the full article here: https://www.brainerddispatch.com/sports ... -not-moose

User avatar
2wolf22
Pup
Pup
Posts: 92
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2017 9:19 am
Gender: Female

Re: Wolves' dinners in Voyageurs NP composed of beavers, blueberries

Post by 2wolf22 » Sat Dec 15, 2018 3:32 pm

I'm gonna read this article. I like building my knowledge on real wolves. I knew wolves couldn't just go about hunting moose so often! :D :moose:

User avatar
Koa
WolfQuest Moderator
WolfQuest Moderator
Posts: 13101
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:53 pm
Gender: Female
Location: washington, d.c.
Contact:

Re: Wolves' dinners in Voyageurs NP composed of beavers, blueberries

Post by Koa » Sun Dec 16, 2018 8:29 pm

2wolf22 wrote:
Sat Dec 15, 2018 3:32 pm
I'm gonna read this article. I like building my knowledge on real wolves. I knew wolves couldn't just go about hunting moose so often! :D :moose:
Beavers are easier to take than moose, so it makes sense. Considering wolves already have a low rate of success when hunting, beavers sound more manageable as a reliable source of prey.

User avatar
elkhunter123456
Yearling
Yearling
Posts: 366
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2019 6:59 pm
Gender: Male
Location: My room

Re: Wolves' dinners in Voyageurs NP composed of beavers, blueberries

Post by elkhunter123456 » Tue Mar 12, 2019 3:09 pm

This article is very interesting! I decided to read a little more on this topic on other articles and found that they also frequently hunt fish and also keep the moose population stable!
prey:
hare
beaver
mule deer
elk
moose
competitors:
raven
eagle
fox
coyote
wolf
cougar
bear

User avatar
DinoDogDude209
Hunter-in-training
Hunter-in-training
Posts: 235
Joined: Thu Jan 31, 2019 10:46 am
Gender: Male
Location: Ohio

Re: Wolves' dinners in Voyageurs NP composed of beavers, blueberries

Post by DinoDogDude209 » Fri Apr 26, 2019 10:33 am

That's very interesting! Beavers aren't exactly something I'd expect wolves to eat a lot of. Thanks for sharing this article Koa!

Post Reply