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The Bionic Wolf
On July 13, 2004 the Discovery Channel aired a one-hour program called “Wolf Battlefields”. It contained some interesting and creative wolf filming and a plot that resembled “The Bionic Man”.
The leader of the starring wolf pack had the ability to “sense” (along with video graphics and sound effects) which cow elk had bad teeth and thus would be in poorer condition and easier to catch. The wolf allegedly singled her out of a large herd and left the healthy calves alone.
The only other pursuit showed a wolf chasing a cow with an odd gait, possibly from a broken hind leg bone that had healed. Two wolves pulled down a cow (possibly the same one?) reinforcing the message that wolves selectively kill only unhealthy, weak or crippled prey, leaving more feed for healthy animals.
Several wolf experts denounce this type of fiction, which ignores the reality that a pack of wolves is the most efficient killing machine on this continent (even without bionic implants). The message it leaves in the minds of many viewers is that wolves are beneficial to their prey species regardless of density.
During the years I lived among bighorn sheep I observed an old blue ram with the same characteristic gait
malnourished bighorn ewe from area with few deer and many coyotes. Frequent coyote chases depleted winter fat reserves.
as the “crippled” cow elk in the video. He competed with other rams each fall and when a ewe came in estrus it was he who passed on his superior genes to a new generation.
He was the leader of a bachelor band averaging eleven rams from March through October and I watched them for several years as they traveled the high remote country during the summer. When he was finally killed by a hunter, I skinned out the hind leg to reveal the broken bone that had healed while remaining offset.
You don’t learn these kinds of lessons from a college professor or a television documentary. Yet many people without the benefit of an outdoor education profess expertise concerning wolf-prey interactions based on what they have read in a newspaper or watched on TV.
Recently Boise’s Idaho Statesman newspaper has been conducting a wolf acceptance campaign with several lengthy articles, three editorials, three readers’ opinions and a collection of pro wolf letters. A typical wolf supporter wrote, “A wolf balances out Mother Nature. He usually kills the weak and old so the strong can survive.”
The role of the wolf is no different than any other large predator. Wolves limit the population of prey species by killing mostly juvenile animals which limits recruitment.
Like other large predators that chase their prey, wolves often pull down one of the slower animals which may, depending upon the time of year, be a pregnant cow elk about to calve or an aged cow that may not survive the winter. In most Idaho deer and elk herds hunted by humans, life expectancy rarely exceeds five years so aging animals are relatively rare.
Whether the occasional old deer or elk is killed by wolves, succumbs to winter, or dies of other natural causes, it’s carcass normally feeds a host of scavengers/predators and other organisms. When a wolf kills an animal that has managed to survive past its prime it is considered compensatory. But it does nothing to maintain desirable genetics or improve herd survival in a managed population.
Studies Reflect Ignorance of Subject
Over several decades I have reviewed many of the North American biological studies involving wild ungulates and their predators. Unfortunately, many of the early flawed theories on winter feeding and predators resulted from inexperienced recent college graduates who displayed an obvious lack of familiarity with the species they were studying.
Back in 1927 U.S. Biological Survey Biologist Olaus Murie was assigned to do a five-year study of elk in the U.S. and set up his headquarters in Jackson, Wyoming near Yellowstone Park. His famous book, “The Elk of North America”, was published by the Wildlife Management Institute in 1951.
When I read it, I discovered that many of his assumptions were based on unsupported opinions or other studies by similarly inexperienced biologists, rather than on actual observation in the field.
Two-year-old bull elk bugle like mature bulls and will breed if the opportunity presents itself.
He wrote that in his many years of observing elk he never saw a two-year-old bull bugle. That raised a red flag as I have bugled many two-year-olds in the Yellowstone/Bridger area and have always used a call in Idaho that was designed to imitate young bulls.
Theories With No Proof
In his discussion of predators and elk Murie stated, “It is very doubtful that bears ever kill adult elk except under very unusual circumstances. In 1947 YNP Biologist Victor Cahalane published similar comments in his book describing the life habits of North American Mammals.
In his chapter on grizzly bears he says that grizzlies coming out of hibernation dine on early vegetation and the flesh of winter killed animals. Then he says that the grizzly is more dangerous than the black bear to the “sick or crippled” elk, moose or deer.
In 1959 John and Frank Craighead began a highly publicized seven-year study of grizzly bears in Yellowstone. In 1968, their famous National Geographic article included a picture of a grizzly covering a bull elk with dirt and grass along with the following comment:
“The grizzly’s keen sense of smell enables it to detect and locate carrion from afar. Rarely does a grizzly kill a healthy adult elk, but it may fell a sick or disabled one.”
The Truth
In 1958, I spent several months flying a USGS survey crew around Yellowstone in a helicopter and discussing grizzly predation on the Central Yellowstone elk herd with the YNP Biologist and two Rangers who became my friends. In May 1959 I returned and observed several grizzlies and one black bear chase and kill healthy adult elk between Canyon and Old Faithful.
In May 1970, I returned with Rob Donley and Steve Jordan to photograph the grizzlies killing elk in the same area. The YNP maintenance employees carried loaded .375 magnum rifles in their pickups to protect themselves from grizzlies defending their elk kills.
We observed grizzlies easily catch up to cow elk and kill them. Then remove the unborn calf and eat every bit of that delicacy except the lower legs. We also checked the condition of several kills and wondered why Murie, Cahalane and the Craigheads had ignored overwhelming evidence that YNP grizzlies were killing healthy elk and preventing the Central elk herd from increasing.
In June 1970, the YNP Biologist contacted me and said he had recorded 90 elk killed by grizzlies in that limited area since they emerged from hibernation. He said the grizzlies worked on one small elk herd with 11 calves until they killed all of the calves along with several cows.
He also said the Craigheads knew about the grizzly impact on the Central Yellowstone elk herd but refused to publish the information. The YNP biologist blamed their lack of integrity on their zeal to promote the “sick and crippled” theory taught by academic biologists.
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