Thanks to LucyT for the article
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Posted on 02/14/2022 6:48:17 AM PST by SJackson
MISSOULA, Mont. — A new study at University of Montana shows Yellowstone wolves change their behavior around bears.
Biologists wanted to know more about how predators interact with each other.
Research shows wolves hunt less when competing with bears but mountain lions hunt more.
UM released the following on Feb. 4:
If you are a wolf living in Yellowstone National Park, bears mess with you. They show up uninvited and steal kills from your pack. And when scavenging bears drive you away from tasty carcasses, you and your fellow wolves will – strangely enough – kill less often.
The reasons for this unexpected finding are explored in a new study by researchers at the University of Montana, Yellowstone National Park, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research and others. The work was published in the scientific journal Ecological Monographs.
“In both Yellowstone and Scandinavia, previous research had shown how the presence of bears led to wolf kill rates that were lower,” said Dr. Matthew Metz, a research associate with the Yellowstone Wolf Project, who earned his doctorate in wildlife biology from UM in December. “This was exciting because it showed that wolf foraging behavior doesn’t occur in a vacuum – it is affected by other apex predators on the landscape.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcmontana.com ...
Thanks to LucyT for the article
This makes little sense...someone steals your meal so you decide its better to go hungry? Not buying it.
“when scavenging bears drive you away from tasty carcasses, you and your fellow wolves will – strangely enough – kill less often.”
So wolves aren’t communists and don’t support BLM (Bear Lives Matter)?
Can I get me some food stamps here?
So much money wasted. Who in their right mind could not have known animals change behaviors around other animal that are threatening. 6000 years of hunter gatherers and somehow now we need a SCIENTIST! to discover this?
They probably switch to rodents and small game animals instead of big game animals.
Why kill a deer or elk or buffalo if it is just going to be taken from you?
If this was any sort of surprise to you you should be wearing a paper hat and asking about fries.
Actually they kill less because we bears impose hunting restrictions on them and make them pay license fees. We never “steal” kills from them, we just take our cut.
That’s because the bears are forcing the reinserted wolves to hunt outside of Yellowstone is my guess. Out to where they aren’t protected. Never should have been brought back in.
I change my behavior around bears....
Exactly, the wolves learn to better hide their kills or go for prey that is less desirable / easier to prevent the bears stealing.
Perfectly well known already to anyone who hunts.
I know my behavior would change a lot if I were around a bear in the wild.
It makes sense when you realize that continuing to feed the bears is not only exhausting, but that it leads to an increase in the bear population through increased cub survival.
Wolves are particularly nasty predators that don’t always kill to eat. When they do kill to eat they usually work from the belly on down, feeding while their prey is still alive.
Perhaps they are not as wasteful when they might be forced to share. It could be some type of natural response to conserve their resources.
Wolves kill for fun. They will kill many animals in a herd and eat just the liver.
If there are bears around they will kill just what they can eat because there will be something coming and it is not a happy thing.
Why kill for the damn bears?
Let them do their own killing.
Agree...the wolves outsmarted the bears. If they’re hunting less and they’re eating less...then they should be losing weight. Since the wolves they studied were collared...where’s the weight chart? The study was over a very short period of time.
Kill less often in bear country because they're sick of having their meal stolen. They'll move and have supper in areas with less bears.
It’s called “survival of the fittest”.
Somewhere in there is a political lesson for The People.
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