Winter severity and wolf predation on a formerly wolf-free elk herd

By L. Mech, Douglas W. Smith, K. Murphy, Daniel R. MacNulty. 2001

149 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We studied wolf (Canis lupus) predation on elk (Cervus elaphus) in Yellowstone National Park from 17 March to 15 April 1997 (severe winter conditions) and from 2 to 31 March 1998 (mild winter conditions) 2-3 years after wolves were reintroduced to the park. Elk composed 91% of 117 kills. Data comparisons for 1997 versus 1998 were: hunting success rate, 26% versus 15%; kill rate, 17.1 kg/wolf/day versus 6.1; percent of kill consumed in first day 7 versus 86; percent femur marrow fat of adult kills, 27 versus 70; calf:adult ratios of kills, 2:33 versus 17:23; sex ratio of kills, 14M:19F versus 17M:6F; mean age of elk killed, males 6.1 years, females 15.2 versus males, 4.8, females 13.0. Winter severity influenced the wolf-elk relationship more than the naivete of the elk herd to predation by wolves.

Subfields: Ecology, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5a5f22faa47910b04574f328aa46843d46fb04fd

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Citations in the corpus

Foraging in the ‘landscape of fear’ and its implications for habitat use and diet quality of elk Cervus elaphus and bison Bison bison (2005, background): “Additionally, wolves hunt primarily by chasing their prey so that they can attack vulnerable hind quarters, and their prey commonly flee into heavy cover for protection (Mech 1966, Smith et al. 2000, Mech et al. 2001).”
Predation risk, gender and the group size effect: does elk vigilance depend upon the behaviour of conspecifics? (2003, background): “, where Rocky Mountain elk are the most numerous ungulate numbering approximately 18 000–22 000 individuals (Mech et al. 2001).”
The influence of conspecifics and predation risk on the vigilance of elk (Cervus elaphus) in Yellowstone National Park (2006, background): “Adult females and yearlings are killed by wolves during all seasons, but adult males are taken more often during late winter than during the other seasons (Mech et al. 2001).”
NUTRITIONAL CONDITION OF NORTHERN YELLOWSTONE ELK (2004, background): “Kohlmann (1999), Stussy (1993), and Trainer (1971) reported kidney fat of hunter-killed cow elk in Oregon; Flook (1970) reported kidney fat indices for elk in Canada; and Greer (1968), Houston (1978), and Mech et al. (2001) reported femur fat levels in Yellowstone elk.”
Assessing differential prey selection patterns between two sympatric large carnivores (2003, background): “Although capture success is likely to vary with prey species, studies indicate that wolf success generally is low (7– 25%), and wolves must search extensively to encounter sufficient numbers of prey to test for their vulnerability to predation (Mech 1966, Shelton 1966, Mech 1970, Mech et al. 2001).”
Elk Calf Survival and Mortality Following Wolf Restoration to Yellowstone National Park (2008, background): “During the mild winter of 1998, almost half the northern Yellowstone elk killed by wolves in March were calves, but during the previous severe winter only 2 of the 34 elk killed by wolves were calves (Mech et al. 2001).”
A Proposed Ethogram of Large-Carnivore Predatory Behavior, Exemplified by the Wolf (2007, background): “To account for differences in vulnerability between adult (.1 year) and subadult prey (Mech et al. 2001; Smith et al. 2000), we limited this analysis to adult prey if the attack involved an individual selected from a group or a solitary individual.”
Effects of hunting group size, snow depth and age on the success of wolves hunting moose (2006, background): “…such as season, type of habitat and weather characteristics have also proved to be important for hunting success, and therefore for kill rates of carnivore species (Kruuk 1972; Stander & Albon 1993; Funston et al. 2001; Mech et al. 1971, 1991, 2001; Hebblewhite et al. 2002; Mech & Peterson 2004).”