Wolf Conservation Efforts

Hello everyone! And welcome back to another blog post! Today I’ll be talking about how the ecosystem changed without wolves. Thanks to those of you who have subscribed to my blog! Anyway, let’s get started!

After wolves were killed off from much of the lower 48, the ecosystem began to collapse. Think Yellowstone for example. the last wolf was killed off there by a park ranger in 1926. After that, the ecosystem there changed.

Aspen trees were one of the first to change. After the wolves were gone from the landscape, elk, were no longer afraid of being hunted, so they moved down to areas with streams and rivers. The elk fed on the baby aspens and willows, resulting in birds, who could not find any places to have their young. They had to build their nests on the ground instead. But, as a result, most of the baby birds died from being taken by other birds or killed by predators like bears. The rivers also changed. They grew warm without the shade and the fish died.

The elk numbers grew to a massive size of about 5,000. They ate all the grasses around them, and soon there were almost no grass to feed them. Hundreds starved to death each winter. Park rangers started killing the elk because of this. After the wolves returned, the elk moved away from the streams and rivers, but I’ll talk more about that another time.

The bears had a diet of fish, and since there was no fish, the bears couldn’t live. They also feed on carcasses killed by wolves, after the wolves were killed off, there were barely any carcasses left on the landscape. Berries were another food for bears, but the elk were eating it all. So, the bears had no food, and as a result starved to death.

That’s only a few examples of the ecosystem changing. The wolves being killed from Yellowstone and all other places did not just change them, it changes the ecosystem as well!

Thank you for reading this post! Wishing you a great day! Awooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!