July 23rd, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment
MSU study: Wolves affecting Yellowstone elk
Updated: July 17, 2009 08:46 AM MDT
Elk that have to contend with wolves have a harder time surviving according to a new study conducted by Montana State University researchers.
The report says that elk in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have had to change their behavior and foraging habits and that there are also fewer calves being born.
The two competing theories on the fewer births are chronic stress over the wolves and nutrition.
The decline in elk numbers has been greater than predicted since wolves were reintroduced in 1995. In the three winters prior to the reintroduction of wolves, elk on Yellowstone’s northern range numbered roughly between 17,000 and 19,000. And in the three winters prior to 2008, annual elk counts had declined to somewhere around 6,700 and 6,300.
MSU Ecology professor and lead author Scott Creel says during winter nearly all elk in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are losing weight, and “essentially, they are slowly starving.”
http://wolfcrossing.org/
