Ecological Studies of the Timber Wolf in Northeastern MinnesotaMech, L. David
Science
Ecological Studies of the Timber Wolf in Northeastern Minnesota
Mech, L. David
Deer -- Minnesota; Gray wolf -- Behavior -- Minnesota; Gray wolf -- Ecology -- Minnesota
The cases of tolerance or indifference that we witnessed between wolves
involved our lone animals. On January 27, 1051 was at a kill he had
made the day before, and another wolf was sitting within 100 feet
looking toward the carcass. Eventually the unidentified wolf left
without approaching any closer. A lone wolf was also seen near 1053 in
the general vicinity of a moose carcass, which probably both were
feeding on at different times. Three such observations were made, on
February 10, 15, and 18; and on February 21 another wolf was also seen
near 1053 some 2.5 miles away from the moose carcass. In all cases, the
two animals were 80 to 200 yards apart in open country and must have
been aware of each other's presence.
Hunting, Killing, and Feeding Behavior
The primary prey of most wolves in our study area is the white-tailed
deer (fig. 29), but some moose (fig. 30) are also killed. We have
examined the remains of six moose that were eaten by wolves, two of
which were killed by them (fig. 31). One was found on February 25,
1967, on Gillis Lake and the other on March 7, 1969, on Twinkle Lake.
These locations are within 3 miles of each other, suggesting that a
wolf pack in that area may be more accustomed to preying on moose than
other packs. The other four moose carcasses were found in other parts
of the study area, but circumstances were such that the causes of death
of those animals could not be determined. A discussion of the details
of wolf-moose relations in our study area must await the collection of
additional data.
[Illustration: _Figure 29.--The main prey of wolves in northern
Minnesota is the white-tailed deer. (Photo courtesy of L. D. Mech.)_]
[Illustration: _Figure 30.--Moose are also killed by wolves. (Photo
courtesy of Allan Taylor.)_]
[Illustration: _Figure 31.--Only a few wolf-killed moose were located
during the study. (Photo courtesy of Laurence Pringle.)_]
The remains of 93 wolf-killed deer, and 49 probable wolf-kills, were
examined for age, sex, and condition and were compared with a sample of
433 hunter-killed deer from the same general area. The wolf-killed deer
were generally much older than the hunter-kills and had a significantly
higher percentage of jaw and limb abnormalities (see Mech and Frenzel,
page 35).
Until recently the only observations of wolves hunting deer were those
reported by Stenlund (1955) for northern Minnesota. He described two
reports of actual observations and two reports of interpretations of
tracks in the snow, all successful hunts. Since that time several
descriptions of successful and unsuccessful hunts have also been
published (Mech 1966b, Rutter and Pimlott 1968, Pimlott _et al._ 1969,
Mech 1970). Nevertheless, many more observations must be made before
generalizations can be formed.
During the present study we were able to witness a number of hunts from
the air and piece together others based on tracks. The following
descriptions are quoted from the field notes of Mech:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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