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How are wolves important to the ecosystem
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To begin with, in 1995 the Gray Wolf was introduced back into Yellowstone National Park. This made the park’s ecosystem form back to it’s regular balance of the ecosystem. The balance of the ecosystem goes producer, herbivore, then carnivore. This is called the food chain and with the Gray Wolf back on top of the food chain it will help the ecosystem's balance. “Loned dispersed wolves have traveled as far as 600 miles in search of a new home”. This means that it can take a Gray Wolf up to 600 miles to find a new home. A very long walk. Also wolves can travel as far as 30 miles to areas that they can hunt in. The Gray Wolf strongly resembles the German Shepherd in many ways. One example of similarity is that the Gray Wolf and the German Shepherd …show more content…
The wolf has a negative and positive impact on other animals. This is because the wolf can eat other animals and form mutual relationships with other species of animals. One animal or species it helps is the North American Gray Wolf. It helps this species because adult wolves in a wolf pack have a breading or an alpha pair. This pair helps reproduce more for the Gray Wolves and helps their offspring. This animal also helps the Ravens. It helps the Ravens because when the Gray Wolf hunts its prey, or animal it want to kill, the Raven can eat any of the leftovers from the Gray Wolves meal. This will allow the Raven to kill other animals and have a symbiotic relationship with the Gray Wolf. The symbiotic relationship involved here is mutualism, where both species help each …show more content…
The wolf is not a danger to humans. This is because, in most parts of the world, there are no wolves. Also wolves do not want to attack an animal that is bigger then itself. Humans historical impact on wolves are almost putting them to extinction and bringing the wolves back to Yellowstone. One bad impact that humans have on wolves is when declines in prey brought the Gray Wolf near extinction in the near 20th century. This means that humans almost killed off the wolves by declining the prey that they can eat. One positive impact that the humans have on the Gray Wolves is that the humans reintroduced the Gray Wolf to Yellowstone National Park. Another negative impact that the humans had on the wolves is “To protect livestock, ranchers and government agencies began eradication campaigns”. This means that the ranchers and government agencies wanted to protect their livestock and begin getting rid of all of the wolves near their land. A very bad
This makes them seem less menacing and scary like the first article makes them look. Sharon Levy says in part "It is only in the two decades that biologists have started to build a clearer picture of wolf ecology….Instead of seeing rogue man-eaters and savage packs, we now understand that wolves have evolved to live in extended family groups.." (ll 19-22) This article also explains the positive overall effects of the wolves moving back to Yellowstone. Not only did the wolves have a new home filled with beautiful elk for prey they were also protected from hunters. This changed the attitude of the wolves as well as their population, of course their population grew and stayed more
Gray Wolf Optimization Gray wolf optimization is presented in the following subsections based on the work in [13]. 1) Inspiration: Grey wolves are considered as apex predators, meaning that they are at the top of the food chain. Grey wolves mostly prefer to live in a pack. The group size is 512 on average. They have a very strict social dominant hierarchy.
The human mind is very powerful, whether were trying to figure out what we don’t know, or trying to persuade others to fear the same as we do. With this fear mankind is set on a path of destruction. To conquer their fears humans often act out by violence. This violent outbreak doesn’t solve the problem but instead makes it worse. Wolves are examples of the ways humans handle their fears. Humans don’t understand the behaviors of wolves and that makes them believe that they are bad and should be feared. Mowats time researching the wolves has led him to believe that it isn’t the wolves who are the ones to blame, but the humans who were the cause of the main problem; the decrease in caribou. Mankind needs to realize that fear is a natural thing that occurs in everything, and we shouldn’t let our fears drive us to make bad decisions that we might regret later.
...I think that repopulating wolves in an area where they might have to deal with people is kind of a feeble-witted idea. Wolves are not an animal with a great reputation, even though they might not deserve that reputation most people do not like. I think that people as a whole would probably rather have deer in their back yard rather than wolves. Therefore, the questions what can happen, what should happen, and what will happen, with the deer problem all three have different answers. These answers will differ due to the area that the deer are in and the peoples' feeling towards these deer. It is too bad that there is not one perfect solution to the deer problem. Maybe in the future there will be, but until then we will have to deal with each problem that comes up individually.
National Parks are the cornerstone of every country because it preserves the rich cultural and natural resources of a nation, such as Yellowstone in the United States of America. Yellowstone National Park is the World’s First National Park which brings millions of attraction each year, it is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combine and have over a thousand species of plants and animal (Yellowstone Media). However, a very important type of species has been missing in Yellowstone National Park for a very long time. Wolves, which got reintroduce back into Yellowstone National Park, should stay there because without them the ecosystem would be out of balance.
Over the past several years, the gray wolf, native to the Wisconsin area, has been listed federally as an endangered species due to the graphic and horrific treatment they had received during the industrialization periods of America, when they were frowned upon and hated because they are predatory creatures and did, on occasion, attack livestock and pets. Because the government was encouraging the hunting, including bounties for the animals, the wolves were hunted to near extinction. However, now Wisconsin faces a new problem. With the reintroduction of the wolves to the state, and their continued endangered status federally, the population has increased well beyond expectations, reaching what could be considered a problematic state. A regulated hunt and a population control procedure has become necessary in Wisconsin to protect state's economic endeavors of game, wildlife, and agriculture, and also the wolves themselves, to keep them from overpopulating and facing starvation and lack of land.
In this research paper, I will address the changes that occurred within the ecosystem of Yellowstone National Park since the reintroduction of the grey wolves. The paper will consist of four sections; the first section will include the history behind the extirpation and subsequent reintroduction of the gray wolf in Northern America. The second section will explore the political controversy that surrounds the reintroduction of the gray wolf in Yellowstone. The third section will contain discuss the gray wolf and its impact on the ecosystem of Yellowstone. I will conclude my essay by explaining how the gray wolves act as climate change buffers in Yellowstone amidst global warming.
Wolves have always been a symbol of the wild, free in spirit and roamers of the land. These animals are considered majestic and protectors of the wilderness. They have always roamed the western United States, although their population has fluctuated over time. Over the past 10 years wolf reintroduction into Yellowstone National Park has been a controversial topic to those of the United States. As of 1995, wolves have been reintroduced into the park. This has come with some strong opposition and yet has prevailed. The future of the wolf in Yellowstone park is now looking bright, although not certain since there still are those who want them banished again.
Hypotheses of the Effects of Wolf Predation Abstract: This paper discusses four hypotheses to explain the effects of wolf predation on prey populations of large ungulates. The four proposed hypotheses examined are the predation limiting hypothesis, the predation regulating hypothesis, the predator pit hypothesis, and the stable limit cycle hypothesis. There is much research literature that discusses how these hypotheses can be used to interpret various data sets obtained from field studies. It was concluded that the predation limiting hypothesis fit most study cases, but that more research is necessary to account for multiple predator - multiple prey relationships. The effects of predation can have an enormous impact on the ecological organization and structure of communities.
Mader,T.R. Wolf reintroduction in the Yellowstone National Park: a historical perspective. Common Man Institute. 1998. 26 pgs.
A lot of people think that humans are the only ones killing Arctic wolves, but that is not the case. Arctic wolves most dangerous threat is humans, but they are also being killed by gobal warming for melting there habitat to water and since there are less of them now polar bears have a bigger advantages to hunt them down.
Canis Lupus, the Latin term for the “North American Wolf”. A meat eating mammal with the capability of weighing up to 180 pounds and reaching a height of sixty-three inches, the wolf is easily the largest member of the canine family. Over 500,000 wolves once lived in harmony, roaming the Northern Americas alongside the Native American tribes and the rest of the ecosystem. Wolves live in packs, a pack essentially being a family. While the average size of a pack is six to ten, the largest confirmed pack recorded in North America can be found in Yellowstone National Park where the “Druid Pack” numbers thirty-seven strong and counting. There have been alleged reports of a pack that attacked a small Russian town killing thirty horses in just four days. This pack numbered up to almost 400 members. Animal experts remain suspicious due to the fact that this number is almost fifteen times the size of an average sized pack. Wolves heavily rely on their pack. Every member of the pack has a specific job that benefits the pack, without the pack, death would be almost imminent. The pack is set up as a hierarchy, with an alpha male and an alpha female. The alphas get the best of everything, the best part of the kill, the best sleeping spot, and the breeding rights. When hunting, one member will scout ahead and will determine the weakest member of the herd. Once determined, the rest of the pack will chase the animal down and either takes it down on the run or chase it until it tires out. Unlike many predators in the animal kingdom, wolves eat their prey alive. While wolves are known for their spine tingling howls, the howl is not the only way they communicate. “Wolf Language” so to speak, consists of many grunts, snarls, growls, yips, and whines....
In 1922 the federal government passed a law that allowed wolves in Yellowstone National Park to be hunted. In just four years later the last wolf was hunted. In 1995, the gray wolf was reintroduced to the park. The government started off by introducing 31 wolves in the Montana and Wyoming parts of the park. Now 116 wolves now live and more then 75 pups.
“…and this is why the caribou and the wolf are one; for the caribou feeds the wolf, but it is the wolf that keeps the caribou strong”― Farley Mowat. This quote is a great example of the wolves keeping balance in nature, and the partnership between two different animals. The gray wolf was reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995. They were reintroduced by the government due to the endangerment of their species. The reintroduction of the gray wolf was beneficial because it improved Yellowstone’s ecosystem, protected the wolves, and it attracted tourists.
Studies show that wolves play a significant role in maintaining healthy ecosystems, and could even help stave off some of the effects of climate change. They help keep large animal herd populations in check, which can benefit numerous other plan...