International Wolf - Winter 2020

Voyageurs Wolf Project:

Studying and Sharing the Summer Ecology of Wolves

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Restoring Wolves on Isle Royale

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Revising Minnesota’s Wolf Management Plan:

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Courting Disagreement and Finding Common Ground

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Voyageurs Wolf Project: Studying and Sharing the Summer Ecology of Wolves in the Majestic North Woods “How do wolves hunt beavers?” seems like a simple question—but watching wolves hunt beavers in the north woods is effectively impossible. In 2014, there were theories, but no data to support them—so Tom Gable and the rest of the Voyageurs Wolf Project set out to change that.

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Restoring Wolves on Isle Royale In September 2020, the National Park Service released a report on the Isle Royale wolf restoration project.

It covers the first 20 months of this collaborative process among federal, state, provincial and tribal agencies, and several universities. This story, based on the report, is about that effort and its apparent success.

By Debra Mitts-Smith

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Adobe Stock / jimcumming88

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Rolf Peterson, Michigan Technological University

THE QUARTERLY PUBLICATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER

Voyageurs Wolf Project

VOLUME 30, NO. 4

28 Revising Minnesota’s Wolf Management Plan: Courting Disagreement and Finding Common Ground

Minnesota’s Wolf Management Plan was drafted in 2001—but 19 years later, things have changed. Updates to that plan are being done with careful attention to stakeholder needs and opinions, with the goals of ensuring long-term survival of Minnesota’s wolves and minimizing wolf-human conflict. Here’s how it’s done.

By Cree Bradley

On the Cover Photo by Peter Dettling

International Wolf Center

https://peterdettling.photoshelter.com

Departments From the Executive Director. . . . . .

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Did you know?

Tracking the Pack . . . . .

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Book Review. . . . . . . . .

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Tricia Austin International Wolf (1089-683X) is published quarterly and copyrighted, 2020, by the International Wolf Center, 7100 Northland Circle N, Suite 205, Minneapolis, MN 55428, USA. email: internationalwolf@wolf.org.

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Please mail membership payment to: International Wolf Center Administrative Office, Attn: Membership, 7100 Northland Circle N, Suite 205, Minneapolis, MN 55428, USA. Contact the membership department with questions: 763-560-7374 ext. 230 or membership@wolf.org.

International Wolf is a forum for airing perspectives, science-based information and personal experiences about wolves. Articles and materials printed in International Wolf do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the International Wolf Center or its board of directors.

International Wolf welcomes submissions of personal adventures with wolves and wolf pho­to­graphs. Prior to submission of other types of manu­scripts, address queries to Chad Richardson, publications director.

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Wolf Care Webinars 2021 Annual Subscription

Support the ambassador wolves with a subscription to the 2021 Wolf Care Webinar series!

In 14 one-hour sessions, we’ll celebrate ambassador wolves’ birthdays, welcome and introduce our 2021 pups, and talk about how the change of seasons affects pack dynamics. You’ll also enjoy status updates with video as the pups transition into life with their new pack.

Every seminar gives you a live look at the wolves and a chance to ask questions of our wolf care staff. After each program, webinar participants will receive a link to a recording of the webinar, so you won’t miss a thing!

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From the Executive Director Yellowstone Discoveries

Meeting the next generation of wolf science

“J

ust hold the bone like a tree branch and saw right through!”

These are words I never expected to hear—but then I never expected to be cutting through a bison foreleg, either. But there I was, in late August, in the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone, about to cut into the carcass of a bison to take a marrow sample.

How did I get there? Well, when my family moved to Minnesota during the COVID-crazy spring, we left a car and a few fragile items back in Portland, Oregon. My 17-year-old son and I planned to fly back and drive the car to Minnesota at the end of summer. We knew we would be driving near Yellowstone, so I reached out to some contacts with the Yellowstone Wolf Project. Taylor Bland and Jeremy SunderRaj offered to meet us early one morning in the Lamar Valley, where they were monitoring the Junction Butte pack—all 35 wolves. They generously shared their spotting scopes with us and introduced us to several other wolf watchers, including Rick McIntyre and Laurie Lyman. When the wolves settled down for the day, Bland and SunderRaj offered to escort us back to Park Headquarters—but first they needed to stop at a bison carcass to document it.

This is what led to my son and me searching through the grass for what was left of a female bison. She had died a couple of days earlier, for unknown reasons, and was then eaten by several members of the Junction Butte pack.

Grant Spickelmier Jeremy explained that the Yellowstone Wolf Project documents most kill-and-feeding sites they discover. They record where the body was found and what animals were feeding on it, and take samples of bone marrow and teeth to record the age and health of the prey animal.

The whole process was very thorough (if a bit smelly) and I was impressed with the Yellowstone Wolf Project’s commitment to this research, especially when I found out that it continues even in the middle of winter! And I was struck by the talent and intensity of these two young biologists. During our time together, I got to know a little about their backgrounds and career plans. As I listened to them excitedly discussing their work in Yellowstone and describing the wolves Jeremy SunderRaj and there, I realized that I was meeting the future of wildlife biology.

Taylor Bland In our work, we tend to focus our attention on the established voices of wolf conservation and research—voices like those of Doug Smith, Rolf Peterson, Diane Boyd and our International Wolf Center founder, Dave Mech—sometimes failing to see the graduate students and wildlife techs “in the background.”

But here at the International Wolf Center, we celebrate the legacy of those who have studied wolves for decades as well as the next generation of wolf biologists and educators. In this issue, for instance, along with a review of Doug Smith’s new book about the 25th anniversary of the Yellowstone wolf reintroduction and a report from the venerable Isle Royale Project, we also highlight the work of Tom Gable. Dr. Gable recently received his PhD, having studied wolf-beaver predation in Voyageurs National Park.

We plan to highlight more of these emerging wildlife leaders in future issues and through our online programming.

I hope that, like me, you will find these young voices for wolves inspiring and see them as a sign that the work to understand wolves is in good hands going forward. n

INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER BOARD OF DIRECTORS Nancy jo Tubbs Chair

Dr. L. David Mech Vice Chair

Debbie Hinchcliffe Secretary

Paul B. Anderson Treasurer

Cree Bradley Cindy Carvelli-Yu Rick Duncan Denise Hughett Judy Hunter Connie LaFond Deborah Wold Lewis Aaron Morris Lisa Nivens Debbie Reynolds Jerry Sanders Paul Schurke Alice Silkey Dick Thiel Keira Thrasher EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Grant Spickelmier MISSION The International Wolf Center advances the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future.

Educational services and informational resources are available at: 1396 Highway 169 Ely, MN 55731-8129, USA 800-ELY-WOLF 218-365-4695 email address: internationalwolf@wolf.org www.wolf.org

Grant Spickelmier, Executive Director I n t e r n a t i o n a l Wo l f

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Voyageurs Wolf Project:

Voyageurs Wolf Project

Studying and Sharing the Summer Ecology of Wolves in the Majestic North Woods B y T O M G A B L E

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I n t e r n a t i o n a l Wo l f

while different in the specifics, follow a similar trajectory. There is an impression among a certain percentage of the population that we have studied wolves enough, that we know all there is to know. I feel this sentiment is particularly true in northern Minnesota where there is a rich history of wolf research spanning back to the 1930’s. The irony is that, despite the tremendous work that has been done over the past 50-60 years, most, if not all, wolf biologists (including myself) know there is much we do not know about wolves in the north woods and other ecosystems.

One Dead Beaver Changes Everything In April 2015, Austin Homkes— currently a field biologist with the Voyageurs Wolf Project (VWP)—and I stood transfixed below the dam of a majestic beaver pond in the middle of the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem, Minnesota. In the grassy earth before us was a precious treasure: tufts of beaver fur and a small piece of beaver bone—the remains of the first wolf-killed beaver identified in the VWP.

Voyageurs Wolf Project

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was getting gas at the Gateway General just outside of Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota on a blistering August day in 2017 when the county sheriff pulled up to the pump across from me. We made small talk for a few minutes, and eventually I mentioned that I study wolves in the area. The officer changed his posture as I started to explain my job, and it was apparent that he could not wait for me to stop talking so he could challenge me. I hadn’t even mouthed the last word of my “what-I-do-for-a-living” spiel when he blurted out: “So. What is it that we don’t already know about wolves?”

The question was steeped in indignance, though I sensed a sliver of curiosity. What the sheriff really wanted to know was, “Why are you wasting time and resources studying wolves, a species that has been studied to death?”

My mind raced through the best answer to the question. At that point in my career, I generally tried to avoid talking to the public or local community about my research for fear of becoming a human piñata—stories abounded about the extent to which the local community distained wolves—and yet here I was, strung up and getting hit with a broomstick.

My response was simple and short: “No one knows how many deer fawns, beavers or adult deer wolves kill from April until October.”

The officer stood there in silence for a second and then, in disbelief, asked, “Really?”

He allowed me to elaborate on my original statement and by the end of our conversation he thanked me for speaking with him and said he learned a lot.

Since that time, I’ve had numerous conversations that,

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Photos courtesy of Voyageurs Wolf Project

These beaver remains were confirmation, or at least validation, of an idea: that it is possible to find where wolves kill beavers by searching the areas where GPS-collared wolves had spent time.

While this might not seem like much of a breakthrough, it was for us. Up to this point, wolf-beaver interactions had been largely overlooked or ignored, which we found surprising because the scant research that existed showed that beavers were an important summer

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food source for wolves in many areas of North America and Eurasia.

And yet, we later learned that the reasons wolf-beaver interactions had been overlooked or ignored are fairly straightforward: 1) most wolf-prey studies, with a few exceptions, have occurred during the winter when wolves are easier to study and beavers are locked under the ice, 2) observing wolves hunting and killing beavers is effectively impossible due to the dense vegetation in

beaver habitats, and 3) finding the places where wolves kill beavers has proven equally challenging, even with GPS-collar technology, because wolves can almost wholly consume a beaver in very little time, leaving hardly anything behind to discover in the field.

Having confirmed that we could locate the places where wolves killed beaver, we became optimistic about understanding wolf-beaver interactions—justifiably, in part. Over the past six years, we have located 273 wolf-killed beavers on our project, and this data has provided a wealth of information about where these events take place. Yet, we realized that finding where wolves kill beavers only tells part of the story. Kill sites tell us where wolves killed beavers, but they tell us relatively little about how wolves actually go about catching beavers. The question, “How do wolves hunt beavers?� might seem simple and straightforward, but it is quite difficult to answer because observing wolves hunting beavers in the north woods is effectively impossible.

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Many researchers had speculated on how these hunts were carried out, but due to the challenges of studying wolf-beaver interactions, there was virtually no data to support any of the speculation. We set out to change this.

Fortunately, when we started visiting clusters of GPS-locations (i.e., areas where wolves remained in the same area for a long period of time) from collared wolves in spring 2015, we quickly realized how wolves were hunting beavers: they were ambushing them. While this might seem intuitive—how else would a wolf catch a beaver?— it is important to know that wolves were not considered ambush predators when we started our project. In fact, in 2018, I attended the International Wolf Symposium, where a well-known wolf biologist stated, when

Kill sites tell us where wolves killed beavers, but relatively little about how they catch them. talking about wolf hunting behavior, “And as all good wolf biologists know, wolves do not ambush their prey.”

Our work, along with a few earlier studies, has shown this is simply not true.

Wolves typically do not ambush prey, but they do have the ability to use ambush strategies when it benefits them.

Once we figured out that wolves were waiting in ambush for beavers, we started meticulously recording information about ambushing locations, hoping that if we collected enough data, we could understand where and how wolves chose ambushing locations. Six years later, having recorded detailed data on more than 990 ambushing attempts, we know that wolves have figured out how beavers detect predators (using scent in particular) and that wolves ambush their prey from locations where beavers are unable to detect them (e.g., waiting downwind so that beaver cannot smell them). In other words, ambushing I n t e r n a t i o n a l Wo l f

behavior by wolves appears well-honed and adapted for hunting beavers.

Though it may appear that we have figured out wolf-beaver interactions, nothing could be farther from the truth.

Sure, we have largely figured out how to study wolf predation on beavers but in doing so we have realized how much we truly do not understand. As we answer one basic question about wolf-beaver interactions, we find, through detailed observation and intensive field-based research, that this interaction is more complex and nuanced than we initially thought. For instance, we had assumed all wolves knew how to ambush and kill beavers, but substantial variation exists in the number of beavers individual wolves kill and the amount of time each wolf spends waiting in ambush.

Complicating the situation is that, while ambushing appears to be wolves’ primary hunting strategy for catching beavers, wolves do kill beavers when opportunistic encounters with beavers occur—and opportunistic encounters can be frequent in Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem, where wolves and beavers occur in high densities. More perplexing is that some wolves that spend substantial time waiting to ambush beavers kill very few—and others that never spend time ambushing, kill beavers in large numbers!

We still do not understand why. Given all the effort we have put in thus far, this is quite humbling and yet at the same time motivating and exhilarating!

A Gaping Hole in Our Knowledge of Wolves In 2014, I clawed through the available scientific literature when I started studying wolves in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem, and I realized that wolfbeaver interactions were just the tip of that oft-mentioned iceberg; below the surface was an icy behemoth that has evaded our observation and understanding for decades: wolf predation during summer. There are a handful of studies on the topic in Yellowstone and Scandinavia, but wolf predation during summer remains unstudied in the majority of ecosystems wolves occupy— including boreal ecosystems like northern Minnesota. For example, wolves rely heavily on deer—particularly deer

fawns—during summer throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and southern Canada—and yet there are no estimates of the number of fawns and adult deer that wolves kill each year.

Wolf predation during summer is not the only gaping hole in our knowledge.

Many aspects of pup-rearing behavior and the success of wolves remain less explored. Wolf pup survival rates, and more importantly, factors that cause changes in pup survival rates, are particularly enigmatic, largely due to the challenges of following wolf pups in their first year of life. But we need to conquer those challenges; pup-survival data are valuable for understanding the rate of, and reasons for, changes in wolf numbers.

We do know that starvation is one of the primary sources of wolf pup mortality. Given this, there is likely a relationship between the summer predation success of adult wolves and the survival of their pups. Presumably, more food leads to higher survival but how much food is needed to prevent three, five or seven pups from starving? Is starvation primarily a function of prey availability or is it largely a result of the hunting prowess of the pack members provisioning the pups?

Ultimately, answers to these questions hinge on a detailed understanding of both the pup-rearing and predation behavior of wolves during summer.

Without both pieces of information, these questions will continue to remain unanswered and, to put it plainly, we will continue to have a poor understanding of the summer ecology of wolves.

The Voyageurs Wolf Project: Filling in the Gaps It is a humid, calm, 85 F degree day in late June, and I am on all fours in a bug shirt and pair of leather gloves, crawling around in my portable sauna, sifting through the leaf litter to find the remains of a wolf-killed fawn. The mosquitoes are biting through my pants, and sweat is pouring off my face, getting stuck in the mesh of my bug shirt, which makes it difficult to see. I contemplate deep, existential thoughts like: “Why am I here? Is this worth it? Is this why I went to college?”

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able to understand the connection between predation and pup-rearing success, and gain a broader understanding of wolves’ summer behavior.

Austin Homkes, left, and Tom Gable of the Voyageurs Wolf Project are pictured examining a kill site near the Moose River in northern Minnesota.

Voyageurs Wolf Project

Duluth News Tribune

The Sketchy Wolf Biologists?

After a seeming eternity, I find a small tuft of fawn hair and little fleck of fresh bone—enough evidence to confirm our collared wolf had killed a fawn here.

I record some data, whip off the bug shirt and start hiking as fast as I can to avoid winged creatures. Despite my best efforts, I’m escorted by a buzzing halo of deer flies. Finally, I reach my car, jump inside, turn on the air conditioning and listen to the deer flies bouncing off the car like tiny ping-pong balls.

Another brutal summer day on the VWP completed.

Through countless hours and miles of fieldwork, in all sorts of conditions—with continued funding from Voyageurs National Park, University of Minnesota, the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, and several other organizations—we have figured out how to study wolves during summer, and in that sense, we’re starting to fill the knowledge gaps.

While studying wolf-beaver interactions is particularly interesting, the objective of the VWP is much broader.

Our overarching goal is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the 8

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summer ecology of wolves in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem in northern Minnesota. We do this by understanding wolf predation behavior and reproductive ecology (e.g., number of pups born and pup survival) from April to October.

We have been doing this intensive research since 2015, and six years later are still going strong, with each year bringing new insights and enlightened perspectives.

Our main research tools are GPScollars, remote video cameras and thousands of hours in the field each summer. GPS and remote-camera technology allow us to identify where wolves kill prey—mainly beavers and fawns— during the summer, and also document some peculiar foraging habits of wolves in our area. Examples include wolves foraging on blueberries in July and August, a pack of wolves that has learned to hunt and kill spawning suckers in the spring, and wolves feasting on bearbait piles in late summer.

This technology is also integral in studying pup survival and pup-rearing behavior. In the spring, we can find wolf dens by tracking GPS-collared wolves. We visit each den once to count the number of pups. Because pups become increasingly mobile in early-to-mid summer, we spread dozens of remote video cameras across each wolf-pack territory to capture videos of the pups traveling together. From this, we can estimate pup survival rates. Our hope is that with enough time, we will be

Wolf biologists are hunterhating, animal-rights supporting, far-left leaning liberal quacks who have a secret agenda to protect the wolves.

You simply cannot trust what they tell you—their study designs are fatally flawed and the data pathetically biased.

While this might sound humorous, I have heard members of the public express these sentiments regarding the VWP and its members—including me— on more occasions than I can count.

This is frustrating, as it’s certainly not an accurate characterization of the project or me. Even worse, there is virtually nothing I can say or do to convince these people otherwise. How do we change their perception? How do we let people see what our project is really about, what we actually do, and that we don’t have a “secret agenda”?

The answer: effective outreach.

In fall 2018, we formally named our project the “Voyageurs Wolf Project” and dove head-first into the world of outreach. First, we created a Facebook page to give the public an inside look at our research and to provide a space for folks to ask questions about our work. Our hope was to couple our wolf research with top-notch outreach that was engaging, entertaining and educational. Our Facebook page amassed a large following very quickly and now, a little over 18 months later, we have more than 64,900 people who follow the project on Facebook and 8,900+ who follow the Instagram account we started last summer. On Facebook alone, our project now reaches more than 93,000 people per day and has helped reached more than 30 million since we started our outreach campaign (statistics from Facebook).

Outreach has done wonders for our project. It has helped change perceptions of our work, especially in the local w w w.wo l f.o r g

Acknowledgements: The Voyageurs Wolf Project is a collaboration between the University of Minnesota and the National Park Service. Funding is provided by Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, Voyageurs National Park, Northern Michigan University, Bell Museum, Voyageurs National Park Association, Van Sloun Foundation, Rainy Lake Conservancy, and several other organizations and donors.

Tom Gable is the project lead of the Voyageurs Wolf Project, having earned a Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. Tom has been studying wolves in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem since 2014—the same year he started his master’s degree at Northern Michigan University, where he studied wolf-beaver interactions. He enjoys exploring Northern Minnesota’s wild places; he thinks they go well with Gordon Lightfoot and John Denver ballads, and any Sigurd Olson book.

Photos couresy of Voyageurs Wolf Project

community, and helped facilitate meaningful connections with people who were initially skeptical. Our social media provide the public with direct access to the biologists on the project. We answer every message, question and comment we get—even the tough or unfriendly ones! I think people often feel there is a barrier between biologists and the public. Our goal is to ensure that is not the case with the VWP. Projects like ours are the only way the public can get the kind of information we discover. People can’t go out in the forest and start putting GPS collars on wolves to see where they go, and the public doesn’t have the time or resources to purchase and deploy dozens of remote video cameras across large expanses of wilderness. However, with the public’s support and funding, we do. Our goal is to make the VWP a long-term, iconic wolf research project. Whether we will accomplish that goal is uncertain, as we are not currently assured enough funds to continue for another year— let alone another 10 or 20. But as long as the VWP exists and can secure funding, we will continue to uncover the secret lives of wolves during summer and share that journey with everyone. n

Austin Homkes looks over an abandoned rendezvous site from the Moose River Pack in Voyageurs National Park. He and his colleague, Tom Gable, were picking up wolf scats at the site to study wolf diets. Homkes said that wolves often had rendezvous sites in drained beaver meadows, pictured in the background.

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Near right: The last two island-born wolves to survive on Isle Royale before other wolves were translocated to Isle Royale by the National Park Service. Photograph taken winter 2019.

Credit: Rolf Peterson, Michigan Technological University

RESTORING WOLVES ON ISLE ROYALE

Adobe Stock / Mircea Costina

BY DEBRA MITTS-SMITH

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Sarah Hoy, Michigan Technological University

Wolves are the only predator of moose on the island, and moose are their primary prey. The relationship between wolves and moose has been the focus of research for almost 60 years.

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sle Royale, the largest island in an archipelago in northwestern Lake Superior, has been a national park since 1931. These islands have long been home to a variety of wildlife including beavers, red foxes, short-tailed weasels, river otters, snowshoe hares and red squirrels. But its two most famous mammals, moose and gray wolves, are relatively recent inhabitants.

No one knows exactly how moose made their way to Isle Royale, probably having swum across from the mainland, but they were first recorded on the island in 1900. Wolves arrived during the late 1940s when an ice bridge formed between Canada and the island. Wolves are the only predator of moose on the island, and moose are their primary prey.

The predator-prey relationship between wolves and moose has been the focus of research for almost 60 years.

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These studies have provided invaluable insights on how wolf predation affects the distribution, abundance and demographics of Isle Royale’s moose population, and helped dispel some centuries-old myths about wolves. The studies also show the importance of predation on the island’s ecosystem; with a recent decline in the wolf population, moose and beaver populations have increased, resulting in overgrazing on forage and aspens.

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condition, potential for reproduction and experience in hunting moose. They also wanted wolves to represent a mix of age and gender. To help ensure genetic diversity, wolves were captured from four sites: the Grand Portage Indian Reservation in northeastern Minnesota; Michipicoten Island, Ontario, in northeastern Lake Superior; Jostle Lake in mainland Ontario; and the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Foothold traps baited with nuisance beaver and vehiclekilled, white-tailed deer carcasses were used to capture wolves in Minnesota and Michigan. Net guns from helicopters were used in the Ontario locations.

In September 2020, the NPS released a report on the wolf restoration project on Isle Royale. The report covers the first

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Wolf and moose fluctuations in Isle Royale National Park, 1959–2020, based on Jan.–March aerial surveys.

Each brown circle represents the number of wolves sighted that year (ex: 50 wolves in 1980). The sudden increase in 2019 is the result of wolves being translocated by the National Park Service. Moose abundances (blue circles), 1959–2001, are based on population reconstruction from recoveries of dead moose. Estimates from 2002–2020 are based on aerial surveys.

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Graphs: The Isle Royale Wolf-Moose Project, Michigan Technological University

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Percentage of moose population nutritionally stressed

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20 months of this process, which relied on collaborative efforts among various federal, state, provincial and tribal agencies, as well as several universities.

Funding sources include the International Wolf Center and the National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation.

By September 2018, when the first of 19 wolves were moved to Isle Royale, there were two wolves remaining on the island—M183 and his daughter and half-sibling F193.

Upon capture, the new wolves were anesthetized and examined by wildlife veterinarians who examined each wolf for signs of disease, external parasites and tick-borne illnesses. They also tested and vaccinated each wolf for common canine diseases and parasites. To develop a genomic monitoring program, a genetic database was established to track the genetic lineages, diversity and health of the translocated wolf population.

Prior to releasing the wolves, biologists fitted them with ear tags, GPS collars and transponders. They deposited moose carcasses as supplemental food near the release sites.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the wolf restoration project, researchers focused on the wolves’ ability to form pairs and packs, to reproduce and raise pups, and to successfully hunt moose and beavers, their main prey. The biologists used a variety of methods to track and monitor the wolves— primarily GPS collars, as well as observation, remote cameras, and blood and fecal sampling.

Unlike Yellowstone, where open landscapes make it possible to view the wolves, Isle Royale is densely forested, making GPS collars and remote cameras indispensable for monitoring.

The GPS collars help track the movements of individual wolves and reveal if a wolf is traveling alone or associating and moving with other wolves.

For instance, data transmitted from the collars of wolves 015F and 012M show that they first met at a moose carcass in June 2019 and have been traveling together since October 2019. The collars

MOOSE ABUNDANCE

WOLF ABUNDANCE

In 1980, there were 50 wolves on the island, but by 2015 the population dropped to three—an unsustainable level. Factors such as availability of prey, disease and inbreeding influence the size of the island’s wolf population, and with wolf numbers at an unsustainable level, the National Park Service (NPS) began considering ways to respond to the species’ imminent extirpation.

In the fall of 2018, the NPS and its partners began to bring wolves to Isle Royale from the Great Lakes region.

NPS introduced 20 to 30 wolves (over several years) to Isle Royale in an attempt to restore balance to the ecosystem.

Scientists selected wolves for translocation based on the specific population (the Great Lakes region), physical

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Sarah Hoy, Michigan Technological University

In September 2020, the NPS released a report on the wolf restoration project on Isle Royale. Project funding sources include the International Wolf Center and the National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation.

also show when wolves are stationary and how long they remain in a particular area. GPS data showing clusters of locations can indicate that wolves are feeding, scavenging or resting, alone or in groups. Researchers visited these sites to collect samples of prey remains, scat and hair from which they determined the type of prey that wolves hunted or scavenged and ate. From May to October 2019, biologists examined 50 prey sites.

Twenty-four contained the remains of moose (18 calves, four yearlings and two adults). Non-moose prey included 19 beavers, three snowshoe hares, two red fox kits, one bird and one muskrat.

Monitoring data point to another aspect of a wolf’s life: denning and the rearing of pups. Wolf 014F, a breeding female translocated from Michipicoten Island denned and established rendezvous sites during spring and summer 2019. Researchers suspect that she was pregnant upon release on Isle Royale.

Last fall (September 2019), a remote camera photographed two pups. Since there was no other evidence of breeding activity from late 2018 to early 2019, researchers have attributed the two pups to 014F. I n t e r n a t i o n a l Wo l f

During the spring of 2020, data from 001F’s GPS collar, as well as from collars on wolves 015F and 012M, suggested denning activity. Although these possibilities have yet to be confirmed with scat samples or images, it is possible that two additional litters were born on Isle Royale in 2020.

As of April 2020, there were 14 wolves on Isle Royale: nine collared wolves and five non-collared wolves. The non-collared wolves include F193, two male wolves (009 and 013) that lost their collars, and the two pups photographed with 014F. Eight of the 21 (19 translocated and the two already there) wolves on Isle Royale have died.

Four wolves, 004F, M183, 018F and 010M, most likely died as a result of attacks by other wolves. Wolf 008M died of pneumonia. Wolf 020F died from cellulitis and possible septicemia.

In two cases, wolves 006M and 005F, cause of death could not be determined.

Wolf 003F was one of the first moved to Isle Royale from northeastern Minnesota in the fall of 2018. Data

Jawbone: Rolf Peterson, Michigan Technological University Fox and hare: Sarah Hoy, Michigan Technological University

A social-bonded pair of wolves has a secure hold on a territory in the western portion of Isle Royale. The male (7M) is on the left, and the female (1F) is on the right.

Winter 2020 13

Rolf Peterson, Michigan Technological University

Non-collared wolves are shown with the radio-collared female, 14F, at Houghton Ridge on 6 March 2020.

One of the non-collared wolves is a putative pup, to the right of 14F.

from her GPS collar showed that she had left the island on January 31, 2019 by crossing an ice bridge to the Ontario mainland. From there she headed west to Minnesota, returning to the area where she had been captured. Over the next months, 003F traveled in Minnesota and Ontario.

A September 2020 press release announced more evidence of pups.

In July 2020, a remote camera photographed a single pup. A few hours later, the same camera caught an image of an adult female wolf identified as either 014F or 015F. In August, visitors to the park reported pup-sized tracks near this same area. Researchers also collected 13 pup-sized scats near this location.

When analyzed, the scats will help researchers estimate the number of pups in this litter. These sightings and scats, along with other evidence reported in the study, confirm that the recently introduced wolves are forming packs, reproducing, rearing pups and hunting prey.

In other words, the wolves are doing just what researchers and park agents hoped they would do. n

14 Winter 2020

Additional Resources Wolves and the Isle Royale Experiment: Restoring an Island Ecosystem 2018-2020: https://globalwildlifecc.org/ research/species-recovery/isle-royalewolf-recovery Breakthrough: Return of the Wolves: https://curiositystream.com/ returnofthewolves National Park Service Press Release: Wolf Pups Born on Isle Royale https://www.nps.gov/isro/learn/news/ newsreleases.htm

Researchers focused on the wolves’ ability to form pairs and packs, to reproduce and raise pups, and to successfully hunt moose and beavers.

Debra Mitts-Smith researches and writes about the wolf in literature and art.

Her book, Picturing the Wolf in Children’s Literature, was published by Routledge in 2010. She is currently working on a cultural history of the wolf.

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Tracking the Pack

Moving Past The Pandemic

By Lori J. Schmidt

A

s winter approaches, the International Wolf Center wolf care team is ready to put 2020 behind and begin planning for 2021.

Despite the unknowns about the impact of COVID-19, the Center made the best decisions possible to safely manage the ambassador wolves, staff and visitors during the pandemic. We delayed the planned acquisition of pups in 2020 until the summer of 2021, and now we are planning to move past the pandemic.

As wildlife managers, we understand and deal with risk. If a disease transfers from an animal to a human, the disease is called a zoonotic. If a human transmits a disease to an animal, it’s termed a reverse zoonotic. With COVID-19 being a novel (new) virus, we had to assess the risk of transmission to pups.

Now we’re sharing some basic knowledge about this topic.

What is a coronavirus?

Yes—but the COVID-19 subgroup is not the coronavirus that impacts canids.

Canine enteric coronavirus (CCoV) does.

First discovered in 1971, CCoV is a highly contagious intestinal infection that can be contracted by young pups and adult canids, but is not a zoonotic; it can’t be transmitted to humans. CCoV is more problematic for young pups due to the secondary problem of dehydration. A vaccine is available to combat this virus, but pups under human care typically are not vaccinated until they are 6 weeks of age. In those first few weeks of life, pups rely on the immunities passed on in the mother’s colostrum, the first secretion from the mammary glands after giving birth. (Parents’ vaccination

Lori Schmidt is the wolf curator at the International Wolf Center.

Awen Briem

There is a large family of coronaviruses with many subgroups that impact both humans and animals. Subgroups may be identified based on how the virus formed, how it behaves and the species it affects.

Can wolves get a coronavirus?

records are one of the important details we request from source facilities before we acquire pups.) If they’re vaccinated before 6 weeks, the pups’ antibodies will fight the vaccine. But a pup that is not aggressive about feeding, or is the smallest of the litter, may not get the necessary colostrum, which flows only for the first 48 hours before the mother starts producing milk.

The data on COVID-19 transmission, progression and species impact is just emerging. Until we have more knowledge, our wolf care staff will follow the CDC guidelines, washing hands before and after interacting with the animals, checking our temperatures daily and reducing exposure risk to a minimal number of handlers.

We hope that 2021 will bring a human vaccine that provides us more certainty about protecting our staff and our ambassador pack.

To learn more about COVID-19, check out the “COVID and Canines Q and A” on the Center’s website at wolf.org. n

I n t e r n a t i o n a l Wo l f

Winter 2020 15

HOLIDAY 2020 International Wolf Center Face Masks Wolf Tracks, Howling Moon, Logo, Geo Wolf, Paw Print, Wolf Trees, Howl! $13.50

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2021 Ambassador Calendar $14.95

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Winter 2020 17

Yay Wallet $9.95

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18 Winter 2020

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Blue and Brown Earrings $14.95

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Foam Mask Black, White, Grey $19.95

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Yellowstone Wolves Courage Coin $2.50

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Pants Adult Sizes S-2XL $35.00 Youth Sizes S-L $30.00 Toddler Sizes 2T-5T $20.00 Infant Sizes 6M-24M $20.00

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By Jon Scieszka $7.99

Steve, Raised by Wolves

By Jared Chapman $17.00 I n t e r n a t i o n a l Wo l f

Winter 2020 19

INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER

Quarterly Donations Gifts between June 1 and August 31, 2020

Major Donors

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20 Winter 2020

Honorary

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We make every effort to ensure the accuracy of our donor list each quarter. If we have omitted your name in error, please accept our apologies and contact Chad Richardson at 763-223-7138 or chad@wolf.org. w w w.wo l f.o r g

In honor of IWC staff and administration Joyce H. Wells In honor of Janell Longo Stay home *Wear a mask *Be safe Shawn Moyle In honor of Joe Whatley for Father’s Day Lisa Whatley In honor of Judy Hunter Joyce E. Seymour In honor of Molly Evans on her 30th birthday Joyce A. Evans In honor of Nancy Gibson “Alpha” Code Sternal

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Thank You!

In memory of Sharol Paiz, lover of wolves and all creatures great and small

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I n t e r n a t i o n a l Wo l f

Winter 2020 21

INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER

Member Profile

A Connection in Norway Formed through Webcams

A

handful of years ago, Jessica Larsen found herself scrolling through animal-related videos on YouTube from her home in Norway. Before long, she found one that featured a live stream of wolves. That stream belonged to the International Wolf Center and soon the Center had itself a brand new international member.

“I clicked on (the live stream link), but I never expected to get involved beyond watching the stream for a bit,” Larsen said. “At first it was as basic as ‘Oh look, a wolf! And there’s another one!’ But it soon became so much more.

“The other wolf videos I came across were mostly generic documentaries or wolves being influenced by human interaction, but the Center’s live stream was all about wolves being wolves, which is why it caught and continued to hold my attention.”

Soon she started recognizing the individual wolves on the cams. That led to

22 Winter 2020

her visiting the Center’s website at wolf.org and that led to finding the wolf logs.

“They were amazing, and included some surprises,” Larsen said. “I never would have guessed that Axel and Grayson were only six months old at the time, and I never would have guessed that the Exhibit Pack were all males, or that so few of them were Jessica Larsen of Oslo, Norway, is a lover of all related. Reading the logs and animals and a fan of the International Wolf Center watching your YouTube videos, ambassador pack.

I really felt like I got to know the wolves, their life history and pershe wanted to do what she could to help sonalities. Which made it even more out, so she became a member. interesting to watch the live stream and “Four years ago I didn’t really know the fascinating interactions between the all that much about wolves, but I have wolves. And it didn’t take me long to learned so much since, and a signifiget attached to them.” cant part of that I have learned from Larsen kept watching those webcams your website and webinars,” she said. and kept deepening her relationship with “I realized how much you guys do the Center. As she learned more about for wolves by living up to your motto the Center’s education-focused mission, about teaching the world about wolves, and that is something I want to support and be a part of.”

Larsen has never visited the interpretive center in Ely, Minnesota, but she does hope to change that.

“I would love to be able to go there someday,” she said. “I’ve seen photos and videos of some of the exhibits, and would love to see it all for myself. And most of all, I really want to one day be able to see the wolves themselves in real life. Maybe be so lucky that I’m at the window when one of them is on the outside looking in! And I really hope to be able to partake in a behind-thescenes tour if I get to go there someday!

That would be a dream come true.” n

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Photo courtesy of Jessica Larsen

By Chad Richardson

W O LV E S O F T H E W O R L D

B y Tr a c y O ’ C o n n e l l

C A N A DA

The battle to save mountain (or deep-snow) caribou herds in British Columbia from extinction pitched environmentalists against those in the resource extraction industries whose timber cutting, oil drilling and road building activities cut into vital caribou habitat. Then a scientific paper last year suggested that culling the wolves that preyed on them would enable the caribou to live on in the presence of industrial incursions. That claim, which resulted in the killing of more than 460 wolves last winter, has now been discredited by a second paper that highlights shortcomings in the first.

Many media, including The Guardian newspaper and The Atlantic magazine, described the second study as faulting the first for using a small sample (12 herds and six control herds).That approach neglected the specific needs of the deep-snow caribou. These caribou are so named because they can walk on the surface of snow15 feet deep with large, wide hooves that act as snowshoes.

Thus the animals can reach the lichens upon which they depend high up in oldgrowth trees. The first study also failed to consider a null hypothesis: What would happen if this culling weren’t undertaken.

The deep-snow caribou once roamed as far south as Montana’s Bitterroot Mountains, but most had disappeared from the United States by 1980. The

I n t e r n a t i o n a l Wo l f

remaining ones in the U.S—all female— were translocated to Canada in 2018, according to Conservation Northwest, a non-profit that seeks to “connect and restore wildlands and wildlife from the Washington Coast to the British Columbia Rockies.”

By the early 2000s, nearly half the Canadian deep-snow caribou had been lost, and in the last five years alone, 350 square miles (906 square km) of their

habitat have been taken over by industry.

Wolves are reported to be only the fourth-most-frequent predator of caribou, so eradication efforts targeting wolves won’t meet the stated goals, environmental organizations in support of the second paper noted. Moose, deer and other ungulates raise their young in cut-over forests and provide predators—including grizzly and brown bears, cougars and wolverines, as well as wolves—with their primary food

By the early 2000s, nearly half the Canadian deepsnow caribou had been lost, and in the last five years alone, 350 square miles of their habitat have been taken over by industry.

Adobe Stock / MEISTERFOTO

Surveys see Europeans cheering wolves; Research slams predator culling, sheds light on sled dog origins; Wolves threaten in Canada and Estonia

Winter 2020 23

Meanwhile, in July two wolves were euthanized in Banff National Park in Alberta. Both had become habituated to human presence. An old, non-breeding female was found to be in poor condition with damaged teeth, an injured leg and scars that appeared to be the result of fights with other wolves, Parks Canada explained in its decision to euthanize her. She was unable to forage very well for herself due to her injuries and had been seen being chased by a deer. The same week, a lone, emaciated, young male wolf was euthanized because of numerous reports of him going up to people and cars. His behavior was seen as “very concerning,” according to Bill Hunt of Parks Canada. Earlier reports of a wolf entering campers’ tents, and in one case removing a backpack, were being compared to see if DNA would indicate this was the same wolf.

24 Winter 2020

E S TO N I A

Wolves have been such a common sight in at least one region of this country that it makes zoos “redundant for those who actually want to see one,” Estonian Public Broadcasting reports. Predictably, there have been cases of predation in sheep farming communities, with farmers, hunters and environmental officials at loggerheads over an acceptable compromise on wildlife levels and methods of compensation.

Disagreement exists as to the actual number of wolves in the country. Marko Kübarsepp, chief specialist at the environmental agency’s wildlife department, said there were 25 wolf litters as of a year ago, and six more added this year. “When they say 100, we say 200,” a member of the hunting community countered, urging that hunters, with their knowledge of the species, should have a greater say in its control. Farmers note that while compensation exists, the amount they can be paid is far below the value of the animals lost, and payments come too late for them to replenish lost animals in time to have lambs in the spring.

THE NETHERLANDS

A survey commissioned by the government and reported in the online medium NL Times showed that 57 percent of the Dutch people found it acceptable for wolves to settle here, up from 45 percent in 2012, and that 65 percent think wolves are essentially harmless. Opponents accounted for18 percent, citing danger, nuisance and lack of space as reasons for their objection. Farmers also said they want to receive compensation for wolf depredations on their livestock, which Dutch people are generally in favor of providing.

Meanwhile, Dutchnews reports wolves are not welcome in Friesland, a northern province bordering the North Sea, according to a narrow majority of its provincial councilors. While not saying how the animals would be kept out, the motion passed by the councilors declares the province a “wolf-free zone.” None of the canids have been spotted in the province to date; at least one pair has been seen in the Veluwe region, a forest-rich ridge in the province of Gelderland, located in the east-central part of the Netherlands, which was voted to have the finest scenic beauty in the country. It is about 80 miles (130 km) from Friesland.

Adobe Stock / creativenature.nl

Adobe Stock / Ryan

source. Caribou are a secondary source for all these predators. Instead of fewer wolves, the second paper notes, the caribou need continued access to oldgrowth, deep-snow areas free of roads and logging operations.

(See this column in the last two issues of International Wolf for stories on efforts to protect a different woodland caribou subspecies, involving a five-year study of wolf predation in the Northwest Territories and associated efforts to increase wolf harvests.)

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EUROPEAN UNION

Attitudes by the Numbers More than 6,000 Europeans were surveyed across six European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and Finland) in a poll commissioned by the animal protection lobby Eurogroup for Animals, with results not dissimilar from the Netherlands data.

Responses showed “a great level of awareness of the benefits of wolves to their local ecosystem,” according to EuReporter, an online media site.

• 55% said wolves should never be killed • 86% said farmers should receive tools to protect livestock from wolves • 93% said wolves have a right to exist in the wild • 89% said wolves belong to the natural environment • 86% said wolves should be accepted in their country • 38% said wolves pose a risk to people • 39% said they would know what to do if they met a wolf The funding organization suggests that survey results point to the need to educate people more about living with wolves.

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Adobe Stock / icarmen13

SIBERIA

Numerous media are reporting the findings of genome sequencing of a 9,500-year-old dog found on Zhokhov, a remote and uninhabited island here. New Scientist says the remains are remarkably similar to living sled dogs in Greenland, suggesting that people bred dogs for pulling sleds more than 10,000 years ago. The team led by Mikkel Sinding, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, sequenced the best-preserved dog from Zhokhov, as well as a 33,000-year-old Siberian wolf and 10 living sled dogs from throughout Greenland. The team compared those wolf and sled dog genomes with each other, and with other dog and wolf genomes.

Findings show the sled dogs haven’t acquired DNA from wolves in that period. ‘The modern wolf is not in them,” Sinding said, indicating surprise because

of numerous reports of sled dogs mating with wolves in Greenland. “This suggests that hybrids have undesirable characteristics, and that they are not kept or allowed to mate with sled dogs.”

“It’s the first place in history where you have intense dog use,” he says. The results show that modern sled dogs in Greenland, whose ancestors were taken there by Inuit people around 850 years ago, are more closely related to the 9500-year-old Zhokhov dog than to other kinds of dogs or to wolves. n Tracy O’Connell is professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in marketing communications and serves on the Center’s communications and magazine committees.

Winter 2020 25

PERSONAL ENCOUNTER

Sage’s Story Part One

By Diane Boyd

Ed. Note: In this first part of a two-part story, wolf biologist Diane Boyd shares her memories of a special wolf, gleaned from her early days as a student researcher living on a remote ranch dubbed “Moose City,” which later became home to the University of Montana’s Wolf Ecology Project.

Courtesy of Diane Boyd

It is one of many stories in the book, Wild Wolves We Have Known, available at shop.wolf.org.

26 Winter 2020

T

here it was again—a wolf howl just outside my cabin. On the opposite river bank stood a huge gray wolf peering at me from beneath snow-laden willows. I realized this naïve animal was likely an adolescent exploring on his own.

I stared back, mesmerized, for what seemed a very long time. Then he was gone. It was November 1983, and I had spent four years searching for phantom wolves in the North Fork of the Flathead River drainage along the northwest corner of Montana’s Glacier National Park. And this wolf had come to me.

That was the beginning of my special relationship with Sage.

During my early days as a grad student, my days were spent looking for wolf sign and trying to capture and radio collar every wolf in the area, along with as many coyotes as I could, for my graduate research project. I discovered their patterns of movement by backtracking their trails in the snow without getting close enough to alter their

wild behavior. Meanwhile, the learning curve was steep. I had to master heating my cabin with wood, maintaining finicky propane lights, and wading icy rivers with skis and field gear in my backpack as I learned the ways of Rocky Mountain wildlife.

When snow blanketed the landscape the Wolf Ecology Project field crew saw tracks of a three-toed, male wolf and a female wolf traveling together. The following spring, in June 1982, the same male was captured in a grizzly bear researcher’s foot snare, and despite efforts to help the wolf recover, it was found dead the next day. A few days later, a log truck driver saw the female with seven pups, and I was worried about the female trying to raise her hungry brood without her mate.

But wolves are nothing if not tenacious and resourceful. That first winter, field crew saw tracks of all eight wolves.

We named them the Magic Pack because it was magical that they had survived.

The pack remained elusive until one of those gray pups grew into a handsome, curious yearling and paid me a visit that memorable November day.

In August 1984, my colleague Mike Fairchild radio collared a 110-pound, twoyear-old, male gray wolf and named him Sage (#8401).

He was almost certainly the same wolf that had visited me a few months earlier, being the right sex, color and age, in a land with only a handful of wolves.

As winter progressed, Sage wandered widely, teaching us that neither crossing raging rivers nor conquering the Continental Divide in the dead of winter could deter a wolf in search

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MONTANA Helena

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Glacier/Waterton Lakes National Park boundaries

ALBERTA

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Ed. Note: Read the second installment in the spring edition of International Wolf to learn how the biologists seek to rescue Sage.

B.C.

Sage’s home range

W

of space, food and a mate. On our telemetry tracking flights we saw Sage traveling with a smaller black wolf in November 1986, and hoped it was a female.

In the summer of 1987, I was delighted to observe Sage and his mate at their den with five pups. The pack fared well, with plenty of elk, deer, moose and bighorn sheep to hunt. Competing predators in the valley included mountain lions, grizzlies, and one determined hunting guide whom I will call Harry.

In early October, one of Harry’s clients shot one of the pups. We received a report from the British Columbia Wildlife Branch that a large gray wolf in the pack, undoubtedly Sage, had also been wounded, but escaped. During our next tracking flight, I observed Sage favoring his right front leg. A month later, he seemed fully recovered, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

The morning of December 31, 1987, it was 15 below zero Fahrenheit, clear and calm—perfect conditions to conduct a telemetry flight. Our pilot, Dave Hoerner, and I observed Sage lying on a snow-covered gravel bar along the Wigwam River. But something didn’t look right. The snow was trampled and the willows were torn up. I asked Dave to make a low pass, and only then did Sage stand up and struggle to move away. His right rear leg was held fast in a trap, attached to a log by a three-foot chain. To my horror, as we helplessly circled, he headed for the partially frozen river, swam across, hauled up on the other shore and headed into the willows, the trap and log leaving a snowy furrow in his wake.

Sage was trapped a quarter mile north of Harry’s backcountry camp, and we knew Harry had no love for wolves; he viewed them as competition for his biggame hunting livelihood.

We searched the ground as Dave swung the plane over Harry’s cabins, lodge, corrals and outbuildings, looking for evidence of life and a place to land the plane. n

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Dr. Diane Boyd has four decades of applied expertise on the behavior and conservation of large carnivores, with a strong focus on wild wolf populations in North America. Her work has focused on wolf ecology, dispersal, habitat use, prey selection, behavior, morphology, genetic relationships and the social dimensions of wolf-human conflict resolution. She has collaborated on research in British Columbia and Alberta, and worked with

the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program as well as projects in Italy and Romania. Boyd was one of four women featured in the fall and winter 2019 issues of International Wolf for their work in wolf research.

Winter 2020 27

A

LO O K B E YO N D

Revising Minnesota’s Wolf Management Plan: Courting Disagreement and Finding Common Ground

By Cree Bradley

W

28 Winter 2020

and resolving conflicts between wolves and humans.”

But this goal, itself, might be up for debate, as certain committee members suggested “survival” is a low threshold.

Complex considerations like this, along

Adobe Stock / Xaver Klaussner

hen Dave Olfelt welcomed the newly formed Wolf Management Advisory Committee, he didn’t imagine it to be under such unique and distant circumstances. Referencing the opening sequence to the 1970s American sitcom, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MNDNR) Division of Fish and Wildlife director called the “Brady Bunch style” virtual meeting an imperfect option to gather 17 committee members and 12 DNR, tribal and other staff. Yet, despite complications created by the Covid-19 pandemic, the important work of updating the state’s wolf management plan would move forward with a solid process and a flexible, patient approach.

Originally drafted in 2001 with extensive public input, the plan provides guidance through a transition from federal to state authority over how Minnesota oversees wolves; it includes population monitoring, management, depredation control, public safety, research, education and more.

Nineteen years later, as wolf status, range and prey numbers (moose, deer) have fluctuated, and new wolf research has become available, it is time to evaluate and revise the plan, re-assessing how public attitudes around wolves may influence management decisions.

The aim is to improve management and conservation strategies with an overall goal to “ensure the long-term survival of wolves in Minnesota while minimizing

with zoning, lowest desirable population, hunting and trapping, prey impact, conflicts with humans, conservation and more must be fleshed out through a robust planning process.

Large Carnivore and Wolf Management Specialist Dan Stark stated, “It’s critical to have all voices about wolves at the table. With the public’s input, we can effectively evaluate how the plan is working and identify what may need to be improved.” To that end, the MNDNR developed a multi-tiered, public-input process that

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minimum, the DNR would try to identify reasons for the decline and reverse the trend.

• Some people support lethal depredation control and compensation levels truer to market value for livestock losses, while others want to emphasize educating farmers about non-lethal controls, with a possible insurance program incentivizing risk management, similar to crop insurance.

The committee shared commonalities and differences between tribes that highlighted the history and cultural significance of wolves to native people.

One tribe, located outside of Minnesota wolf range, proposed a “premium hunting season” that dedicates revenues to conservation and depredation reduction. The tribes residing in wolf country oppose a recreational wolf harvest, citing cultural and scientific reasons.

There was consensus around using the best science-based information in creating the revised plan. However, some

misconceptions and lack of access to research caused differences in members’ viewpoints, particularly related to effects of wolves on deer populations—a topic that arose repeatedly throughout the meeting.

To deal with scientific aspects of the plan, the process also includes a technical panel of state, federal and tribal wolf experts. While this workgroup meets separately, there is overlap in meeting attendance, and presentations from biologists have helped inform the process. For example, MNDNR’s Glenn DelGiudice presented on moose, deer and wolf management.

Finally, a public attitudes survey of nearly 10,000 Minnesota households, hunters and livestock producers further ensures the plan accounts for a broader understanding of values, beliefs and attitudes toward wolves. The survey revealed key differences in opinions between groups. Minnesota residents generally oppose lethal control, while hunters and livestock producers support it. There is considerably higher support (at 80 percent) for a hunting and trapping season by hunters and producers than by residents. And residents prefer wolf numbers and range to remain consistent with present numbers.

Wolf management continues to be an emotional, divisive and valueladen issue. Throughout the planning process, advisory and technical committees, along with MNDNR staff, have been challenged to synthesize and massage sometimes opposing opinions into agreement or compromise. The public-attitudes survey results, however, showed that Minnesotans agree on one primary idea: maintaining a wolf population in Minnesota is important. That single fact holds significant weight and provides a positive starting point for the hard work of revising the state’s wolf management plan. n Adobe Stock / hkuchera

includes public comments, three public meetings and multiple meetings of the advisory committee.

The committee consists of 20 stakeholders, including seven unaffiliated, at-large members, as well as representatives of hunting and trapping interests, animal rights and advocacy groups, agriculture and livestock producers, forestry and conservation groups, and local, county and tribal governments.

During the September meeting, members expressed their opinions on the 2001 plan and their desires for improvements to the revised edition. These messages, among others, stood out: • The public holds strong opinions both for and against a wolf hunting-and-trapping season.

• There is interest in a managed wolf population that matches the 2001 plan’s minimum population of 1,600 wolves; there are also concerns that this population is too low. Stark clarified that if the population approaches this

I n t e r n a t i o n a l Wo l f

Cree Bradley is a member of the International Wolf Center board of directors.

Winter 2020 29

KIDS

What Do Wolves Have to Do with Elk Antlers?

And why does it matter?

By K.C. and Aaron Morris

There’s something new in the Wild Kids section!

Aaron Morris, a wildlife ecologist and International Wolf Center board member, and his wife, K.C., who is a third-grade teacher specializing in elementary literacy, have summarized a recent scientific paper into language that’s easier for children to understand. We hope our young readers will enjoy this learning experience, and that parents will help them appreciate it. Please share your feedback about this new approach with International Wolf Center publication director Chad Richardson by writing to chad@wolf.org.

Vocabulary Shed The process of

dropping off, or getting rid of, antlers

Evolve The changing of

physical form and behavior of a species over long periods

Hypothesis An idea to test Adobe Stock / HarryCollins_1

through a study or experiment

T

he bugling sound of a bull elk breaks the silence across a meadow. The elk stands tall near his herd, his impressive rack of antlers on full display. It is fall, and the elk rut, or mating season, is at its peak. Another bull elk moves in to challenge him, and the two animals walk side-by-side, sizing one another up. The challenger gives up and leaves. His antlers are smaller; he is no match for the larger bull.

Elk are members of the deer (Cervidae in Latin) family. In North America, they are mostly found in the Rocky Mountains of the United States and Canada. Scattered herds also inhabit the Midwest and eastern U. S. The males, or bulls, shed and regrow their antlers each year.

A group of researchers from the University of Montana, Yellowstone National Park, and Utah State University wanted to learn more about the timing of when elk shed their antlers, so they conducted a scientific study to do that.

What did they study?

The article they wrote about their research begins with information they already knew about elk antlers. They explain that antlers evolved as a physical trait that shows off the health and strength of a male elk. The researchers also describe the primary, or most important, purpose of elk antlers—they are tools male elk use to compete for mates during the rut. Elk with the largest antlers usually win these competitions, and they attract more females to their herds. That can be because their antlers are an effective weapon for fighting other males, or because their antlers are impressive enough to persuade other males not to challenge them.

Though the scientists knew the primary purpose of elk antlers, researchers wondered if antlers might have another purpose. They thought it was possible that antlers might discourage wolves from hunting male elk that have not yet dropped them off. They wondered if this could explain why some male elk wait longer to shed their antlers than others.

To test this hypothesis, the researchers studied data, or information, about wolves hunting male elk

Trait A feature determined by genes

Pedicled Having already

shed antlers for the season

30 Winter 2020

How much can antlers weigh?

Each antler can weigh 20 pounds. With two antlers, that makes an incredible 40 pounds some elk are carrying around on their heads—about the weight of a five-gallon pail of water. w w w.wo l f.o r g

Adobe Stock / bradleyrwakoff

Elk in North America are also called wapiti.

This name originates from the Shawnee and Cree languages, and refers to the white rump of an elk.

In Europe, the term “elk” refers to the animal we call a moose in North America.

Did you know?

What did they discover?

The researchers describe two important discoveries from their study.

• First, their data showed that wolves were more likely to attack pedicled elk than antlered elk when they had a choice.

• Also, the researchers found that wolves “strongly preferred” to kill pedicled elk over antlered elk. In other words, if you are a male elk that has dropped your antlers, you’d better watch your back!

According to the researchers, these results are surprising because pedicled elk are usually in better physical condition than antlered elk—and predators like wolves, that chase their prey, would rather go after animals that are in bad physical shape. This is because injured, sick, or weak animals are easier to hunt. The researchers suggest that, even though carrying around heavy, awkward antlers takes a physical toll on an elk, the possibility of being hunted and eaten by wolves may have caused elk to evolve to sometimes wait to shed their antlers.

Another observation the researchers make is that whether elk shed their antlers earlier or later often reflects how old they are. Older, bigger elk are more likely to shed their antlers early, so they can get a head start on growing bigger, more impressive ones that make attracting mates more likely. Younger elk that are probably not big and strong enough to attract females anyway are more Do elk shed their likely to keep their antlers longer and persuade antlers on purpose? wolves to stay away.

Why does it matter?

Growing new

antlers each

year allows bull elk to display how healthy and strong they are. So in a sense, yes—elk shed their antlers every year on purpose so they can grow newer, bigger ones.

The title of their article, “Predation shapes the evolutionary traits of cervid weapons,” sums up the researchers’ noteworthy finding: Wolves hunting elk—with their preference to attack and kill pedicled elk—influenced a second purpose for elk antlers. Elk not only use their antlers as a tool to attract mates; they have evolved to keep their antlers longer during a year as a way to convince wolves to leave them alone.

These two purposes of elk antlers are in competition, the researchers say. Elk shed their antlers early or late in the spring, depending how they tend to use them— as a tool for attracting mates or as a deterrent to wolves. n I n t e r n a t i o n a l Wo l f

Adobe Stock / Pascal

in Yellowstone National Park to find out whether wolves prefer to hunt antlered elk or pedicled elk (the ones that have dropped their antlers).

People sometimes call antlers “horns,” but antlers and horns are different.

Antlers are made of bone and are shed and regrown every year. Horns grow throughout an animal’s life and are not shed. The inside structure of the horn is bone, but the outside is covered in keratin, the same substance found in hair and fingernails. Whitetailed deer and elk have antlers. Bison and bighorn sheep have horns.

How do they do it?

Antlers grow out of an elk’s skull from pedicles, which are bony protrusions on top of the skull.

When antlers start growing, they are made of cartilage—the same material that gives your nose and ears their shape. As they continue growing, the cartilage is replaced by bone. The cells that turn cartilage into bone are the same ones that cause the antlers to be shed. The shedding process is triggered by the elk’s hormone levels and how much light there is in a 24-hour period. Over the winter, when hormones change and days grow shorter, cells begin to reabsorb the bone between the antler and the pedicle. Eventually, the bond between the pedicle and the antler weakens enough that the antlers separate and fall off the elk’s head, usually in very early spring.

Winter 2020 31

BOOK REVIEW

2020 marks 25th anniversary of the return of wolves to Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone Wolves: Science and Discovery in the World’s First National Park Edited by Douglas W. Smith, Daniel R. Stahler, and Daniel R. MacNulty Book Review by Debra Mitts-Smith

B

y 1926, the United States government had eradicated wolves throughout most of the U. S., including the ones in Yellowstone.

Almost 70 years later, in 1995, the government acted to return wolves to the park. This large-carnivore reintroduction in North America was greeted with excitement at the time—but also with controversy.

Today, while controversy about wolf reintroduction continues in many places, the wolves of Yellowstone are the most protected and most viewed wolf population in the world. As Douglas Smith, Daniel Stahler and Daniel MacNulty state in their preface to Yellowstone Wolves, the restoration of wolves to Yellowstone represents a “change of heart” in humankind’s relationship with the wolf and the wild.

Yellowstone wolves are unique in their habitat and their accessibility. The open landscapes make the wolves visible not only to researchers but also to tourists. Annually, millions of people visit Yellowstone to see wolves living their lives in the wild. Millions more have come to know these wolves through books, documentaries and social media websites. Park policies have been created to balance the needs of scientists, tourists and wolves—but this book makes it clear that in Yellowstone National Park, the needs of the wolves and other wild32 Winter 2020

life take precedence over those of humans.

Yellowstone Wolves is a rich, multi-layered compilation that transforms data and practical knowledge into an engaging, informative narrative grounded in science. Divided into six parts, each focused on an aspect of wolf research, it includes these: • History of wolves in Yellowstone and their reintroduction to the park • Wolf biology and social structure of packs • Genetics and disease • Wolf-prey relationships • Impact of wolf restoration on the ecosystem • Conservation and management of wolves and the human experience in Yellowstone.

Research articles, informative sidebars highlighting related research, graphics and images, and guest essays in which contributors reflect on the importance of Yellowstone wolves comprise each section.

The editors end each part of the book with a link to the “Yellowstone Wolves” website where readers can access interviews with researchers, as well as wildlife videos by cinematographer Bob Landis.

Yellowstone Wolves: Science and Discovery in the World’s First National Park Edited by Douglas W. Smith, Daniel R. Stahler, and Daniel R. MacNulty Publisher: University of Chicago Press 344 pages

This work reflects the scientific collaboration underlying the research on Yellowstone wolves, one of the most studied wolf populations in the world.

Readers will find the book invaluable for its new and updated insights that broaden our understanding of wolves and move us toward coexistence with this and other species. n Debra Mitts-Smith researches and writes about the wolf in literature and art. Her book, Picturing the Wolf in Children’s Literature, was published by Routledge in 2010. She is currently working on a cultural history of the wolf.

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Help Us Meet the Match!

During Give to the Wolves Day on Nov. 19, all dontions up to $25,000 will be matched, thanks to a new grant from explore.org, a direct charitable activity of the Annenberg Foundation.

We sincerely appreciate the financial support from explore.org and are excited that we have this match available.

Be sure to visit explore.org to see our two new webcams! Just search for the International Wolf Center!

To donate visit: bit.ly/givetothewolves

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Order online at

Kelly Godfrey

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