Story at a glance
- The Voyageurs Wolf Project is an effort by the University of Minnesota to study wild wolves in and around Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota.
- The video shows the wolf making its way through the forest, gnawing on a deer bone, moving through a river and hunting fish that have become trapped near a beaver dam.
- Researchers said up until viewing the footage, they had only documented wolves from a single pack hunting and killing fish at the same creek.
Researchers from northern Minnesota have released video from a collar camera that was attached to a wild wolf in the region.
The Voyageurs Wolf Project is an effort by the University of Minnesota to study wild wolves in and around Voyageurs National Park in the state. The group says one of its main goals is to understand the predation behavior and reproductive ecology of wild wolves during the summer months, an area of study that is currently poorly understood.
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Researchers with the project trapped a lone wolf, V089, last spring, sedated him and strapped a GPS collar camera to the animal that captured 30 seconds of video at the top of every hour during the daylight. The wolf wore the camera for six weeks into late June, when the collar fell off as expected, according to Gizmodo.
The Voyageurs Wolf Project released the video last week, saying they believe it to be the first footage of its kind.
The video shows the wolf making its way through the forest, gnawing on a deer bone, moving through a river and hunting fish that have become trapped near a beaver dam.
“What is particularly fascinating is that this wolf (V089, a lone wolf) knew how to hunt and catch fish,” the Voyageurs Wolf Project said. “He can be seen eating 3 different fish, which were all killed and consumed at the same spot along the Ash River.”
Researchers said up until viewing the footage, they had only documented wolves from a single pack hunting and killing fish at the same creek.
“This footage clearly demonstrates that other wolves in our area know how to hunt fish and they do so in different areas,” the project tweeted.
The project’s outdoor cameras have also caught other rare sights. In January, one of its trail cams recorded a wolf eating blueberries.
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Published on Apr 19,2021