# Isle Royale wolves vs moose



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Wolves fighting for meals as moose population dwindles

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060309/NEWS01/603090338/1001/news

March 9, 2006 By John Flesher 

TRAVERSE CITY - Gnawing leisurely on the remains of a moose carcass, the wolf pack's alpha male seemed unaware that mortal danger was coming ever closer.

Suddenly the eight-member rival pack burst into view. The alpha scrambled to his feet, but too late. Howling and barking, the enemy chased him down and mercilessly attacked, killing the hapless victim within a couple of minutes.

It's not unusual for the gray wolves on Isle Royale National Park to target one another, said John Vucetich, a Michigan Tech University wildlife biologist who witnessed the carnage from an airplane in January.

But the rival pack's brazen invasion of another's territory was a sign of a worsening hunger problem for wolves on the 45-mile-long archipelago in northwestern Lake Superior. Reason: a steady decline of moose, now at their lowest ebb in the 48 years that scientists have studied the relationship between the two species in Isle Royale's closed environment.

"One of the ways the wolves struggle through a food shortage is to try and usurp territory from their neighbors," Vucetich said in a phone interview Wednesday.

He and fellow researcher Rolf Peterson estimated the moose population at 450 this winter, down from 540 last year. Only four years ago, they totaled an abundant 1,100.

Meanwhile, the wolf census held at 30 for the second consecutive year. But their numbers are sure to drop because there won't be enough moose to feed them all, the scientists said. Presently, there are about 15 moose for every wolf. The normal ratio is 40 to 50 moose per wolf.

"The bulk of the moose population at any point is invulnerable to wolves, because they're young and vigorous enough to fight off the wolves," Peterson said. Wolves feast mostly on calves and elderly moose, both of which are in short supply, he said.

The moose drop-off results in part from the aging of a "baby boom" generation dating from the early 1990s, when wolf numbers plummeted because of a parvovirus outbreak, he said. Also, a tick infestation in recent years weakened the massive animals, making them easy prey for wolves.

The tick problem eased a bit over the past year but remains a threat. Another is a gradual decline of the moose's primary food supply as the island's forests evolve from primarily birch and aspen to less nutritious spruce and balsam fir, Vucetich said.

The changing forest cover has caused a sharp drop in beaver, an alternative food source for wolves, Peterson said.

The moose's historic low doesn't mean it is in any danger of disappearing, he said. Its decline will enable vegetation to recover from overbrowsing when the herd was thriving, and fewer will be killed as wolf numbers inevitably fall.

"One-third of the kills this winter were calves," Peterson said. "The wolves need to go down to give more calves a chance of reaching adulthood."


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Hunger makes Isle Royale wolves less fearful of people

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MI_FEARLESS_WOLVES_MIOL-?SITE=MITRA&SECTION=HOME

Sept 11, 2006 By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer

For campers at Isle Royale National Park, sighting a gray wolf is a rare and thrilling experience.

At least, it has been.

But some wolves have gotten a bit too familiar this summer, wandering into camping areas and showing little of their customary fear of people.

No attacks or threatening behavior have been reported. But the close encounters prompted warnings to visitors not to feed the wolves.

"Wolves are wild animals and potentially dangerous like any wild animals," said Michigan Tech University biologist Rolf Peterson, who has studied wolves and moose on the Lake Superior island chain for more than 30 years.

Wolves seldom target humans, although it's not unheard of, Peterson said Monday. In fact, a wolf attacked several people at Lake Superior Provincial Park in Ontario last week before the superintendent killed it.

Such incidents could happen more often if wolves begin to identify people as a food source, Peterson said.

"The best thing is that they never associate us with a speck of food," said Phyllis Green, the Isle Royale superintendent.

Scientists believe wolves migrated to Isle Royale from Minnesota in the mid-1900s when the lake's surface was frozen. They found prey in the moose that had arrived a half-century earlier and smaller mammals such as beaver.

But beaver have mostly disappeared because of habitat loss resulting from changes in forest cover, Peterson said. So the wolves now have little to feed on except moose, whose numbers also have nose-dived recently.

A census earlier this year counted about 450 moose - fewest in the 48 years biologists have monitored the relationship between the two species in Isle Royale's closed environment.

Meanwhile, the wolf population was a healthy 30. Peterson predicts it will decline because of the food shortage, which likely is what's making them less fearful of humans.

"They're very hungry this year," Peterson said.

Most of the sightings were early in the season, when people were beginning to occupy camping areas that had been vacant through the winter, Green said. The park is closed from November through mid-April.

The boldest wolves belonged to what's known as the eastern pack, which has nine members. Some turned up near Rock Harbor, one of the most developed sections of the park and a docking site for ferryboats from the mainland.

"They were hunting (moose) calves in one of our campgrounds," Green said. "They were in there during broad daylight. One of them one time was chasing a fox."

In bygone days, "maybe one visitor in a thousand" would spot a wolf, Peterson said. "Now, when I give a talk to 50 people, there will be two or three in the audience that saw wolves."

Visitors are given a fact sheet advising them to properly stow food and garbage and to dump fish offal in deep water.

Other words of wisdom: If you see a wolf, get away as quickly as possible but don't run. Don't follow or howl at them. If you come upon a moose carcass, don't hang around; wolves may be nearby even if you don't see them.

"People need to respect the dinner table," Green said. "If you're not invited, don't attend."

On the Net:

Isle Royale National Park: http://www.nps.gov/isro 

Isle Royale wolf info: http://www.isleroyalewolf.org


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

My last trip was in 1995 and you couldn't help but stumble over moose back then.

I thought the NE part of the park had a big fire a few years back that was supposed to be bringing back some of the browse.


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## Tecumseh (Aug 13, 2004)

Does the state want natural forest succession on the entire island so the study can continue monitoring the wolf/moose relationship? If they cut parts of the island the wildlife would be much healthier. A few decades more and they won't need to continue the study unless there are more fires or other natural forces that can open the forests.


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## yoopertoo (Nov 23, 2005)

http://www.wawa-news.com/Newspages/09-04/Wolf2.html


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## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

Isle Royale is federally owned as a national park. That means no cutting, no hunting, no management at all except the management of Mother Nature. 

I have never heard of any fires at all on the island in recent times.


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Isle Royale wolf sightings becoming more common

http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-0701200126jan21,0,6905026.story?coll=chi-travel-hed

01/21/07

HOUGHTON, Mich. -- For campers at Isle Royale National Park, sighting a gray wolf is a rare and thrilling experience.

At least, until now.

Some wolves got a bit too familiar last summer, wandering into camping areas and showing little of their customary fear of people.

No attacks or threatening behavior have been reported. But the close encounters prompted warnings to visitors not to feed the wolves.

"Wolves are wild animals and potentially dangerous like any wild animals," said Michigan Tech University biologist Rolf Peterson, who has studied wolves and moose on the Lake Superior island chain for more than 30 years.

Wolves seldom target humans, although it's not unheard of, Peterson said. In fact, a wolf attacked several people at Lake Superior Provincial Park in Ontario recently before the superintendent killed it.

Such incidents could happen more often if wolves begin to identify people as a food source, Peterson said.

"The best thing is that they never associate us with a speck of food," said Phyllis Green, the Isle Royale superintendent.

Beavers, which were once the wolves' prey, have mostly disappeared in the area due to habitat loss. So the wolves now have little to feed on except moose, whose numbers also have nose-dived recently.

A census last year counted about 450 moose--fewest in the 48 years biologists have monitored the relationship between the two species in Isle Royale's closed environment.

Meanwhile, the wolf population was a healthy 30. Peterson predicts it will decline because of the food shortage, which likely is what's making them less fearful of humans.

In bygone days, "maybe one visitor in a thousand" would spot a wolf, Peterson said. "Now, when I give a talk to 50 people, there will be two or three in the audience that saw wolves."

Other words of wisdom: If you see a wolf, get away as quickly as possible but don't run. Don't follow or howl at them. If you come upon a moose carcass, don't hang around; wolves may be nearby even if you don't see them.


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Wolf, moose populations take another hit on Lake Superior island

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MI_ISLAND_WOLVES_MIOL-?SITE=MITRA&SECTION=HOME

03/07/07 By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- Chased into the Lake Superior shallows, mauled and left for dead by fellow wolves, the young female struggled to shore and collapsed. A lone male came to the rescue, licking her wounds and staying on as she recovered.

Together they formed a successful and prolific pack, with the female bearing at least 19 pups. But their love story has ended tragically: A rival pack killed the female this winter, a year after fatally attacking her mate as he munched on a moose carcass.

"All we found were the skull and a radio collar," Rolf Peterson, a wildlife research professor at Michigan Technological University, said Wednesday.

Violent death is a constant threat in the dog-eat-dog society of wolves at Isle Royale National Park. (They're actually not cannibals, preferring to leave the remains for other scavengers after killing one of their own.)

But the internecine warfare is getting more intense, with the population of moose - the wolves' primary food source - at its lowest since wildlife biologists began studying the two species' predator-prey relationship in the park 49 years ago.

The annual census turned up 385 moose, down from the previous low of 450 last winter. Wolf numbers fell from 30 to 21 during the same period, largely because of hunger.

"We're definitely in uncharted territory," said John Vucetich, a Michigan Tech assistant professor who teams with Peterson on the project.

Isle Royale had more than 1,000 moose as recently as 2002. But nature has dealt a one-two punch: a run of unusually hot summers and an infestation of blood-sucking ticks.

Instead of fattening themselves for winter, moose are spending too much of the fleeting summers seeking shelter from the sun and trying to remove the nasty parasites by rubbing against trees and biting their hair out.

One moose can host tens of thousands of ticks. Weakened by weight and blood loss, many are unable to fight off ravenous wolf packs.

Despite their dramatic slide, it's highly unlikely all the moose will die, Peterson said.

"The wolves are the ones that would be at risk, through their own actions in a way," he said. "Ten years from now, it will be pretty dismal for the wolves" because they're gobbling up moose calves before they can breed and rebuild the herd.

Yet the wolves have overcome other dangers, including a parvovirus outbreak that nearly wiped them out in the late 1980s.

"It looks terribly precarious," Vucetich said. "But amazingly, these things tend to fix themselves more often than not."

Peterson, who witnessed the earlier attack on the female and her rescue by her future mate from an airplane in 2000, said only one other wolf is known to have borne more pups during the study period.

She and her mate produced seven litters. "It's pretty unusual for a pair to survive and do well for that long," Peterson said.

They were alpha members of what the researchers dubbed the Chippewa Harbor Pack, one of three packs roaming the 45-mile-long archipelago in northwestern Lake Superior. The rival East Pack apparently caught her trespassing in its territory, Vucetich said.

Chippewa Harbor has two new alphas, whose strength and tenacity will determine whether the pack survives.

Although focusing on the wolves and moose, the scientists also monitor how their ups and downs affect other species. Foxes, for example, are hurting because wolves are eating every morsel of their kills, leaving less for other animals to scavenge.

"It's all so connected, and that's half of what makes it so fascinating," Vucetich said.
---
On the Net:
-Isle Royale wolf study site: http://www.isleroyalewolf.org/


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Wolf, moose populations take another hit on Lake Superior island

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MI_ISLAND_WOLVES_MIOL-?SITE=MITRA&SECTION=HOME

03/07/07 By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- Chased into the Lake Superior shallows, mauled and left for dead by fellow wolves, the young female struggled to shore and collapsed. A lone male came to the rescue, licking her wounds and staying on as she recovered.

Together they formed a successful and prolific pack, with the female bearing at least 19 pups. But their love story has ended tragically: A rival pack killed the female this winter, a year after fatally attacking her mate as he munched on a moose carcass.

"All we found were the skull and a radio collar," Rolf Peterson, a wildlife research professor at Michigan Technological University, said Wednesday.

Violent death is a constant threat in the dog-eat-dog society of wolves at Isle Royale National Park. (They're actually not cannibals, preferring to leave the remains for other scavengers after killing one of their own.)

But the internecine warfare is getting more intense, with the population of moose - the wolves' primary food source - at its lowest since wildlife biologists began studying the two species' predator-prey relationship in the park 49 years ago.

The annual census turned up 385 moose, down from the previous low of 450 last winter. Wolf numbers fell from 30 to 21 during the same period, largely because of hunger.

"We're definitely in uncharted territory," said John Vucetich, a Michigan Tech assistant professor who teams with Peterson on the project.

Isle Royale had more than 1,000 moose as recently as 2002. But nature has dealt a one-two punch: a run of unusually hot summers and an infestation of blood-sucking ticks.

Instead of fattening themselves for winter, moose are spending too much of the fleeting summers seeking shelter from the sun and trying to remove the nasty parasites by rubbing against trees and biting their hair out.

One moose can host tens of thousands of ticks. Weakened by weight and blood loss, many are unable to fight off ravenous wolf packs.

Despite their dramatic slide, it's highly unlikely all the moose will die, Peterson said.

"The wolves are the ones that would be at risk, through their own actions in a way," he said. "Ten years from now, it will be pretty dismal for the wolves" because they're gobbling up moose calves before they can breed and rebuild the herd.

Yet the wolves have overcome other dangers, including a parvovirus outbreak that nearly wiped them out in the late 1980s.

"It looks terribly precarious," Vucetich said. "But amazingly, these things tend to fix themselves more often than not."

Peterson, who witnessed the earlier attack on the female and her rescue by her future mate from an airplane in 2000, said only one other wolf is known to have borne more pups during the study period.

She and her mate produced seven litters. "It's pretty unusual for a pair to survive and do well for that long," Peterson said.

They were alpha members of what the researchers dubbed the Chippewa Harbor Pack, one of three packs roaming the 45-mile-long archipelago in northwestern Lake Superior. The rival East Pack apparently caught her trespassing in its territory, Vucetich said.

Chippewa Harbor has two new alphas, whose strength and tenacity will determine whether the pack survives.

Although focusing on the wolves and moose, the scientists also monitor how their ups and downs affect other species. Foxes, for example, are hurting because wolves are eating every morsel of their kills, leaving less for other animals to scavenge.

"It's all so connected, and that's half of what makes it so fascinating," Vucetich said.
---
On the Net:
-Isle Royale wolf study site: http://www.isleroyalewolf.org/


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Wolf, moose populations take another hit on Lake Superior island

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MI_ISLAND_WOLVES_MIOL-?SITE=MITRA&SECTION=HOME

03/07/07 By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- Chased into the Lake Superior shallows, mauled and left for dead by fellow wolves, the young female struggled to shore and collapsed. A lone male came to the rescue, licking her wounds and staying on as she recovered.

Together they formed a successful and prolific pack, with the female bearing at least 19 pups. But their love story has ended tragically: A rival pack killed the female this winter, a year after fatally attacking her mate as he munched on a moose carcass.

"All we found were the skull and a radio collar," Rolf Peterson, a wildlife research professor at Michigan Technological University, said Wednesday.

Violent death is a constant threat in the dog-eat-dog society of wolves at Isle Royale National Park. (They're actually not cannibals, preferring to leave the remains for other scavengers after killing one of their own.)

But the internecine warfare is getting more intense, with the population of moose - the wolves' primary food source - at its lowest since wildlife biologists began studying the two species' predator-prey relationship in the park 49 years ago.

The annual census turned up 385 moose, down from the previous low of 450 last winter. Wolf numbers fell from 30 to 21 during the same period, largely because of hunger.

"We're definitely in uncharted territory," said John Vucetich, a Michigan Tech assistant professor who teams with Peterson on the project.

Isle Royale had more than 1,000 moose as recently as 2002. But nature has dealt a one-two punch: a run of unusually hot summers and an infestation of blood-sucking ticks.

Instead of fattening themselves for winter, moose are spending too much of the fleeting summers seeking shelter from the sun and trying to remove the nasty parasites by rubbing against trees and biting their hair out.

One moose can host tens of thousands of ticks. Weakened by weight and blood loss, many are unable to fight off ravenous wolf packs.

Despite their dramatic slide, it's highly unlikely all the moose will die, Peterson said.

"The wolves are the ones that would be at risk, through their own actions in a way," he said. "Ten years from now, it will be pretty dismal for the wolves" because they're gobbling up moose calves before they can breed and rebuild the herd.

Yet the wolves have overcome other dangers, including a parvovirus outbreak that nearly wiped them out in the late 1980s.

"It looks terribly precarious," Vucetich said. "But amazingly, these things tend to fix themselves more often than not."

Peterson, who witnessed the earlier attack on the female and her rescue by her future mate from an airplane in 2000, said only one other wolf is known to have borne more pups during the study period.

She and her mate produced seven litters. "It's pretty unusual for a pair to survive and do well for that long," Peterson said.

They were alpha members of what the researchers dubbed the Chippewa Harbor Pack, one of three packs roaming the 45-mile-long archipelago in northwestern Lake Superior. The rival East Pack apparently caught her trespassing in its territory, Vucetich said.

Chippewa Harbor has two new alphas, whose strength and tenacity will determine whether the pack survives.

Although focusing on the wolves and moose, the scientists also monitor how their ups and downs affect other species. Foxes, for example, are hurting because wolves are eating every morsel of their kills, leaving less for other animals to scavenge.

"It's all so connected, and that's half of what makes it so fascinating," Vucetich said.
---
On the Net:
-Isle Royale wolf study site: http://www.isleroyalewolf.org/


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## M1Garand (Apr 12, 2006)

Predator-prey ratios are fairly constant, even in the fossil record. As the moose population drops, so will the wolf population. As the moose recover, so will the wolves. It's a never ending cycle and natures way, and it can be pretty cruel sometimes.


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## swampbuck (Dec 23, 2004)

Tecumseh said:


> Does the state want natural forest succession on the entire island so the study can continue monitoring the wolf/moose relationship? If they cut parts of the island the wildlife would be much healthier. A few decades more and they won't need to continue the study unless there are more fires or other natural forces that can open the forests.


 In addition to being a National Park, It is part of the U.N.E.S.C.O.(United nations) International Biosphere Program. That prohibits humans from taking any action to prevent the progression of nature. Even if the population totally collapses they can do nothing. If there was a fire they couldnt even put it out.

It is my absolute favorite place to go.


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

The Wolves of Isle Royale
By Dr. Rolf Peterson

Thursday, April 5th, 2007 8:00 p.m. 
West Science 2904 (Lecture Hall B)
Northern Michigan University

Dr. Peterson is Professor, School of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences Michigan Technological University. Houghton

The Public is Welcome to Attend


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Deadly chain reaction
More ticks on Isle Royale means fewer moose, which means fewer wolves. Global warming may be to blame.

Scientists who for decades have studied the delicate prey-predator balance between moose and wolves on Lake Superior's Isle Royale believe global warming -- by giving an assist to blood-sucking bugs -- ultimately could deal a deathblow to the national park's wolf population.

Since 2002, the number of moose on the island has declined from 1,100 to 385, following a dramatic increase in winter ticks. The insects infest the moose, suck their blood and weaken them, making them easy prey for wolves.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070827/NEWS06/708270367


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Wildlife struggles to survive
Moose, wolf populations are down on island

In a newly released edition of his classic "Wolves of Isle Royale: a Broken Balance" (University of Michigan Press, $29.95), retired Michigan Technological University wildlife biologist Rolf Peterson explores the complex interactions, habitats, behavior, lives and deaths of the island's best-known animals: wolves and moose.

Future visitors who expect to see moose are likely to be disappointed, predicted Clarkston writer Jim DuFresne, author of "Isle Royale National Park: Foot Trails and Water Routes" (Mountaineers Books, $15.95).

http://www.record-eagle.com/local/local_story_336103038.html


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Isle Royale wolf, moose populations increase

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080406/METRO/804060315/1409/METRO

04/06/08 DULUTH, Minn. -- A new survey shows that wolf and moose populations have increased over the past year on Lake Superior's Isle Royale.

The Duluth News Tribune reports the study has been around for 50 years, making it one of the longest-running projects on predator/prey relationships. 

Wolves have increased from 21 in 2007 to 23 in 2008 and grew from three to four packs.

There were an estimated 385 moose in 2007 and about 650 in 2008. Researchers say difficult counting conditions last year may have resulted in undercounting. 

Researchers say the wolf population is about normal, but the moose population is below average. 

John Vucetich of Michigan Technical University says there are very few old moose on the island. That could mean wolves have a tougher time getting food.


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## WAUB-MUKWA (Dec 13, 2003)

Typical. Same with the wolf and deer counts. Never right!


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Warmth upsets balance between Isle Royale wolves, moose

ISLE ROYALE NATIONAL PARK -- Ignoring an observation plane circling above the frozen Lake Superior wilderness, the eight gray wolves seemed as harmless as your beloved pooch cavorting in the yard. Trotting along Siskiwit Bay, they playfully nipped and pawed one another, pausing occasionally to roll in the snow.

But then the alpha male and female moved purposefully away from the shore. They passed through a clearing and plunged into thick woods, the others strung out behind.

They had eaten little for three days. Now they needed to hunt.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080420/NEWS06/804200612/1008/news06


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