New Developments in Wolf Study

It’s been a challenging winter for moose and wolves on Isle Royale National Park. The moose population has declined to its lowest level since researchers began observing them 48 years ago. It’s the world’s longest running study of predator-prey relationships. With their food supply dwindling, the wolves have responded by attacking each other. The GLRC’s Gretchen Millich reports:

Transcript

It’s been a challenging winter for moose and wolves on Isle Royale National Park. The moose
population has declined to its lowest level since researchers began observing them 48 years ago.
It’s the world’s longest running study of predator-prey relationships. With their food supply
dwindling, the wolves have responded by attacking each other. The GLRC’s Gretchen Millich
reports:


John Vucetich is a wildlife biologist at Michigan Tech University. He says the latest count on
Isle Royale found only 450 moose. That’s down from 11-hundred four years ago. Vucetich says
the food shortage has led one wolf pack to invade the territory of another. During a flyover in
January, he witnessed the killing of an alpha male by rival wolves.


“Just a circle of wolves, all of their noses focused on one spot, you can’t even see the victim wolf
at all, tails along the outside just wagging vigorously and that goes on for two minutes or so, and then
the wolves walk away and there’s nothing left but a bloody lifeless carcass in the snow.”


The situation won’t last long. Vucetich says that by next year, wolves will start to decline and
soon moose will make a comeback on Isle Royale.


For the GLRC, this is Gretchen Millich.

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