The Wildlife News

Isle Royale

  • Isle Royale wolves down to just three

    Ralph Maughan

    Did winter ice allow most of the wolves to walk off the island, or did they die? For a second winter season in a row Lake Superior froze around Isle Royale National Park. This potentially allows wolves and other land animals to walk over to the island or leave the island. Most winters there is no…

  • Lake Superior freezes and one wolf migrates off of Isle Royale

    Ralph Maughan

    The rare big freeze probably did not help struggling Isle Royale wolf population- Everyone knows that Lake Superior froze hard this year, providing an increasingly rare opportunity for the inbred wolves on Isle Royale to gain fresh recruits from the mainland. All of  the the present wolf pack is the product of wolves that wandered…

  • Should the declining inbred wolves of Isle Royale N.P. be augmented?

    Ralph Maughan

    Should there be genetic rescue (outside wolves brought in)- For many years the wolves and moose of Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior have shown that wolves do not wipe out their prey. When wolves become abundant enough that the disappearance of prey seems probable, the wolves die back. On the other hand, when…

  • Isle Royale researchers advocate for ‘genetic rescue’ of island wolves

    Jeremy Bruskotter

    In an op-ed published in the New York Times yesterday, researchers from Michigan Technological University and Oregon State University advocated for the genetic rescue of the island’s wolf population: As the lead researchers in the study of wolves and moose, we favor conservation or reintroduction. But more important than our view is the reasoning behind…

  • What if the Isle Royale wolves go extinct?

    Ralph Maughan

    Just 9 wolves, one of which is female. It looks bleak- It’s probably the longest study of wolves in history  (since 1958).  The wolf numbers have been up and down along with the moose they eat many times since then. But now with just one female, it clearly looks like the end of the wolves…

  • Wolf Crosses the Lake Superior Ice to Become Leader of the Pack

    Ralph Maughan

    Isle Royale wolves get a tiny bit of genetic renewal- Wolf Crosses the Lake Superior Ice to Become Leader of the Pack. By Nicholas Bakolar. New York Times.

  • Wolf count down at Isle Royale, moose hold steady

    Ken Cole

    2 of the 4 wolf packs have disappeared and the overall population has dropped from 24 to 19 wolves The interactions of wolves and moose on Isle Royale National Park have been studied for decades. In recent years the wolves, due to their low genetic diversity, have exhibited malformed vertebra and other deformities related to…

  • Inbreeding taking toll on the wolves of Isle Royale

    Ralph Maughan

    Crippling effects of inbreeding show the problem with natural wolf recovery based on a few wolves- A fair number of people think that wolf restoration should be “natural,” — based solely in the in-migration of 2 to a dozen or so wolves, but there is not enough genetic variety in a small number for such…

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