A LARGE, DARK WOLF poked his nose out of the pines in Yellowstone National Park as he thrust a broad foot deep into the snow and plowed ahead. Soon a second animal appeared, then another, and a fourth. A few minutes later, a pack of thirteen lanky wolves had filed out of the pines and onto the open hillside.
Wolves (Canis lupus) on the Canadian barrens are intimately linked to migrating herds of barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus). We deployed a Global Positioning System (GPS) radio collar on an adult female wolf to record her movements in response to changing caribou densities near her den during summer. This wolf and two other females were observed nursing a group of 11 pups. She traveled a minimum of 341 km during a 14-day excursion. The straight-line distance from the den to the farthest location was 103 km, and the overall minimum rate of travel was 3.1 km/h.
Ten 7-day-old gnotobiotic Beagle puppies were inoculated intraperitoneally with virulent canine distemper virus (R252-CDV). The dogs were killed and perfused with paraformaldehyde/glutaraldehyde from eight to 36 days after inoculation. The developing teeth of the mandibles were examined by light microscopy, and the teeth from three dogs were examined by electron microscopy. Necrosis of individual cells in the stratum intermedium of the developing tooth was the first change, detectable at day 9 post-inoculation.
1. We investigated the functional response of wolves (Canis lupus) to varying abundance of ungulate prey to test the hypothesis that switching from alternate prey to preferred prey results in regulation of a caribou (Rangifer tarandus) population at low densities.
2. We determined prey selection, kill rates, and prey abundance for four wolf packs during three 30-day periods in March 1989, March 1990 and November 1990, and created a simple discrete model to evaluate the potential for the expected numerical and observed functional responses of wolves to regulate caribou populations.
Of the 64 wolves recorded as harvested from the North Slave Region in 2019-20, 50 carcasses were necropsied.
The North Slave Region received 65 wolf carcasses from the winter of 2018-19 that were necropsied. There were 59 wolves taken by hunters in the new wolf harvest incentive area in winter 2018-19, 56 of which were paid $900/wolf ($50,400 total).
The Wildlife Management Advisory Council (WMAC-NWT) and the Inuvialuit Game Council (IGC) approved a wolf-prey research program because wolves in the area prey predominately on caribou (Rangifer tarandus), which is an important food species for Inuvialuit. Wolves are also an Important fur resource used in the communities or sold for economic benefit. The Inuvialuit are interested in maintaining a wolf population that is a part of the natural environment and can meet their needs, yet not jeopardize their opportunity to harvest caribou.
The Wildlife Management Advisory Council (WMAC-NWT) and the Inuvialuit Game Council (IGC) approved a wolf-prey research program because wolves in the area prey predominately on caribou (Rangifer tarandus), which is an important food species for Inuvialuit. Wolves are also an Important fur resource used in the communties or sold for economic benefit. The Inuvialuit are interested in maintaining a wolf population that is a part of the natural environment and can meet their needs, yet not jeopardize their opportunity to harvest caribou.
This Report provides a summary of the gross necropsy findings from 36 wolf carcasses derived from the 2020 Wolf (Dìga) Management Pilot Program implemented on the Bathurst and Bluenose-East caribou winter ranges.
The Mobile Conservation Zone (MCZ) was implemented as a strategy to ensure the conservation of the Bathurst caribou herd. The MCZ is a dynamic wildlife management unit that represents a ‘no harvest zone’ around the herd’s current location.