Isle Royale Winter Study finds wolves living their best lives, moose not so much

Reports and Proceedings

MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: TWO PUPS FROM THE EASTERN PACK TRY TO ROUSE PACKMATES FOR PLAY. view more 

CREDIT: SARAH HOY

Key findings include:

• A doubling of the wolf population, now estimated at 28 total wolves. “Each time we carried out aerial surveys this winter, we saw wolf tracks across many parts of the island and we also regularly saw groups of wolves traveling or resting together,” said Hoy. “It is such a pleasant change from five years ago when there were only two wolves on the island and the future of the wolf population looked pretty bleak. It just goes to show how quickly wolf populations are able to thrive in places where they are free from persecution.”

• A 28% decline in the moose population, from 1,876 to 1,346. Wolf kills accounted for 8.7% of the moose mortalities, the highest predation rate since 2011. Other challenges for the moose include blood-sucking winter ticks that weaken the animals, and spruce budworm infestations that kill balsam fir, their preferred winter food. “Over the past year we found an unusually high number of moose that appear to have died due to malnutrition,” Hoy said. “The population appears to be suffering from a food shortage, especially in winter when moose don’t have many good options of things to eat.”

For more information and to access the Winter Study report, read the full story at MTU News.

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About Michigan Technological University

Michigan Technological University is a flagship technological public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan. The University offers more than 125 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and is home to more than 7,000 students.

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Ecological Studies of Wolves on Isle Royale

A bull moose, outfitted with a GPS collar near Beaver Island at the west end of Isle Royale in February 2022, shown having lost or damaged large patches of its winter coat, especially near the shoulder region. This bull died on 14 April 2022, seemingly from malnutrition.

CREDIT

Sarah Hoy

A large group of wolves were seen feeding on a moose on the ice near Daisy Farm at the east end of the Isle Royale National Park on 7 February. After that large group of wolves had left the area, Ky and Lisa Koitzsch visited the kill site to determine the age and sex of the dead moose and to collect scat samples from wolves for genetic analysis.

CREDIT

Ky and Lisa Koitzsch