Problems with studying wolf predation on small prey in summer via global positioning system collars

Palacios, Vicente; Mech, L. David

doi:10.1007/s10344-010-0408-7

Cited by 33 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…We were surprised that 80% (17/22) of the beaver kill sites were identified via collars with fix intervals ≥4 hr as previous studies have discussed the challenges of identifying kill sites of small prey even with short fix intervals (≤30 min) [25,26,39]. Our success in finding these kill sites was in part a result of wolves spending relatively long periods ( = 15.4 hr) at kill sites (Table 1).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Collared wolves were estimated to be alone at kill sites if: 1) all beaver remains found were at the site or at GPS locations, and 2) there was only 1 wolf bed at the site, or all wolf beds at the site were associated with GPS locations [25]. We determined the minimum time a collared wolf was at a kill site based on the time between the first and last location at the site.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, finding kill sites of small prey species is difficult because wolves can consume the entire carcass in a short period [23–25]. Nonetheless, some studies have successfully documented beaver kill sites at clusters [20, 21, 25, 26]. Thus, we sought to infer wolf hunting behavior from beaver kill sites to understand how and where wolves hunt beavers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Where and How Wolves (Canis lupus) Kill Beavers (Castor canadensis)

Gable

Windels²,

Bruggink

et al. 2016

PLoS ONE

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Beavers (Castor canadensis) can be a significant prey item for wolves (Canis lupus) in boreal ecosystems due to their abundance and vulnerability on land. How wolves hunt beavers in these systems is largely unknown, however, because observing predation is challenging. We inferred how wolves hunt beavers by identifying kill sites using clusters of locations from GPS-collared wolves in Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota. We identified 22 sites where wolves from 4 different packs killed beavers. We classified these kill sites into 8 categories based on the beaver-habitat type near which each kill occurred. Seasonal variation existed in types of kill sites as 7 of 12 (58%) kills in the spring occurred at sites below dams and on shorelines, and 8 of 10 (80%) kills in the fall occurred near feeding trails and canals. From these kill sites we deduced that the typical hunting strategy has 3 components: 1) waiting near areas of high beaver use (e.g., feeding trails) until a beaver comes near shore or ashore, 2) using vegetation, the dam, or other habitat features for concealment, and 3) immediately attacking the beaver, or ambushing the beaver by cutting off access to water. By identifying kill sites and inferring hunting behavior we have provided the most complete description available of how and where wolves hunt and kill beavers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Where and How Wolves (Canis lupus) Kill Beavers (Castor canadensis)

Gable

Windels²,

Bruggink

et al. 2016

PLoS ONE

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“…During summer in this region, members of wolf packs tend to hunt separately (Demma et al 2007;Demma and Mech 2009b;Palacios and Mech 2010;Barber-Meyer and Mech 2015). Therefore, there is a strong probability that the fawn or fawns in our study were approached by non-radio-collared wolves as well as by our tracked wolves and, thus, more often than our findings indicate.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawn risk from Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) predation during summer

2016

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Two female wolves (numbered 7117 and 7205) estimated to be 5 and 3 years old (Gipson et al. 2000) Little is known about how often various prey animals are at risk of predation by Gray Wolves (Canis lupus). We used a system to monitor the presence during the day of two radio-collared Gray Wolves within 2 km of a radio-collared White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) with a fawn or fawns in August 2013 in the Superior National Forest of northeastern Minnesota. We concluded that the fawn or fawns were at risk of predation by at least one wolf at least daily.

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“…The use of Global Positioning System (GPS) radiocollars on Gray Wolves (Canis lupus) (Mech et al 1998;Merrill et al 1998) soon led to attempts to study wolf predation (Sand et al 2005;Demma et al 2007;Zimmerman et al 2007;Sand et al 2008;Webb et al 2008;Palacios and Mech 2010). Such attempts rely on the assumption that when wolves make a kill, they remain at or near the kill for a long enough period so that clusters of the GPS locations taken from the kill site can be distinguished from GPS locations recorded while the animals are traveling.…”

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confidence: 99%

Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) Movements and Behavior Around a Kill Site and Implications for GPS Collar Studies

Mech

2012

Can Field Nat

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Global Positioning System (GPS) radio-collars are increasingly used to estimate Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) kill rates. In interpreting results from this technology, researchers make various assumptions about wolf behavior around kills, yet no detailed description of this behavior has been published. This article describes the behavior of six wolves in an area of constant daylight during 30 hours, from when the pack killed a Muskox (Ovibos moschatus) calf and yearling on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada, to when they abandoned the kill remains. Although this is only a single incident, it demonstrates one possible scenario of pack behavior around a kill. Combined with the literature, this observation supports placing a radio-collar on the breeding male to maximize finding kills via GPS collars and qualifying results depending on whatever other information is available about the collared wolf's pack.

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Problems with studying wolf predation on small prey in summer via global positioning system collars

Cited by 33 publications

References 16 publications

Where and How Wolves (Canis lupus) Kill Beavers (Castor canadensis)

Where and How Wolves (Canis lupus) Kill Beavers (Castor canadensis)

White-tailed Deer (<em>Odocoileus virginianus</em>) fawn risk from Gray Wolf (<em>Canis lupus</em>) predation during summer

Gray Wolf (<em>Canis lupus</em>) Movements and Behavior Around a Kill Site and Implications for GPS Collar Studies

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