The Wolves of Yellowstone

[erronis]

https://digbysblog.net/2024/09/13/friday-night-soother-271/

First four paragraphs of the transcript. The whole is really worthwhile.

TRANSCRIPT: In 1995, something really exciting happened in the nation’s first national park, Yellowstone. 41 wild wolves are reintroduced here by scientists. After 100 years of being hunted, wolves could once again call this place home.

The wolves thrived, but something else very surprising happened. Their return had a spectacular effect on the landscape, an effect that spread wider than anyone thought possible. So how did this all happen?

In the past, wolves were seen as a risk to people and livestock, and they were exterminated from the Yellowstone area in the 1920s. The elk’s main predator was gone, and their population more than doubled. Elk are both grazers and browsers, so they eat grass, shrubs, and trees. They overgraze the entire park, upsetting the natural balance of the ecosystem.

Mammals like mice and rabbits could not use the plants to hide from predators, and their populations fell dramatically. Grizzly bears suffered as the elk munch away their berry supply, which they badly need to build up fat before hibernating. Pollinators like bees and hummingbirds had fewer flowers to feed on, songbirds less trees to nest in.

[CrispyQ]

1. There's a documentary about beavers & the remarkable change in the landscape when they were reintroduced.

Thanks for the teaser transcript! Bookmarking to watch later.

[twodogsbarking]

2. I had toast and eggs for breakfast.

[Maraya1969]

4. Missing something here.

[twodogsbarking]

5. It's me. I wasn't in the mood for elk this morn.

[NNadir]

3. Thank you for this wonderful video. None of this had occurred to me, although I'm a fan of wolf reintroduction.

I know this isn't popular around here, where I live, in New Jersey but the extinction of the Puma here has had similar consequences. Today, the main predator for deer is the automobile.

I personally wouldn't have much objection to wolves in New Jersey either, but don't expect it will ever happen.

[Quakerfriend]

12. Interesting- I never knew there were once

Puma in NJ.

I live just outside of Philly where we have a growing population of coywolves. In the past 16 years, I’ve seen several on our property.

[tsSleepyTimeDwnSout]

13. puma were everywhere.

the Catskill mountains in NY were named after them. NY also had lynx and bobcat. Cornell has been trying to reintroduce lynx to th Adirondaks.

[Kali]

15. it is a little different

wolves are pack hunters and they affect the herding behavior of the elk. cats are individual hunters and while they affect numbers of prey animals, they don't affect their behavior so much.

what wolf reintroduction has shown in Yellowstone riparian areas is what some in the ranching community are trying to replicate with herd/grazing management of livestock in various ways.

[et tu]

6. this program has been extrodinary-

but many are killed by locals not wanting them there.
so do you know how many are there currently?

[Martin68]

8. I believe the wolves are only killed by locals when they leave the park.

[Martin68]

7. An old story but a good one. Changed a lot of views on the role predators play in an ecosystem.

[et tu]

11. a quick search

https://greateryellowstone.org/blog/2024/montana-fish-and-wildlife-commission-passes-measures-that-signal-progress-for-yellowstone-wolves
interesting article~

[BobTheSubgenius]

9. One of the most amazing results of the reintroduction of wolves...

...is that it even changed the course of rivers. Perfectly logical when the doc. explains it, but COMPLETELY outside anything I would have thought of.

There is another wonderful doc. about a wolf pack in Yellowstone, but I can't remember its name, unfortunately. It followed the ups and downs of a pack that was the preeminent group of wolves at the start of the doc. and then showed what happened to them as their ranks diminished.

They were no longer the toughest gang, and lost the right to the hunting ground of the high plain, the prime location for a wolf pack to have. They were pushed into the lowlands for a while, but rebuilt their strength through both breeding and the introduction of mates and "inlaws", which allowed them to once again contend.

HIGHLY watchable, and I couldn't give it a higher rating.

[Deuxcents]

10. Enjoyed the video. Don't know why humans think they know better than Mother Nature

[Bumbles]

14. Thank you for this wonderful video.

It was a welcomed diversion from the other "stuff" that's going on.