Let them eat fish - September 02, 2008
Posted on behalf of Amber Dance
Wolves, powerful pack hunters who take down elk, moose, and deer, would rather feast on salmon if given the option. 
Scientists knew wolves enjoyed the occasional fillet (Wildlife News 2004), but assumed they turned to salmon only when their usual prey -- big, hoofed mammals -- were scarce. But a study in Monday’s BMC Ecology suggests that when the salmon are running, wolves prefer finned food.
Chris Darimont and colleagues at the University of Victoria and the Raincoast Conservation Foundation collected more than 2,000 wolf scat samples from eight British Columbia packs over four years. “We had a literal mountain of wolf shit,” Darimont says. They discovered that in autumn, when spawning salmon migrate upriver, the amount of deer remains decreased, whereas salmon was found in 40-70% of samples.
The washed scat samples are now archived in Darimont’s mother’s basement, he says, in paper lunch sacks. “In Mum’s defense, and in my defense, we autoclave it so all the parasites are rendered inviable,” he notes.
Salmon are an appealing snack, the authors write, because they’re a safe catch. Wolves are often injured, or even killed, by their usual prey as it uses hooves and horns to fight for its life. Fish, on the other hand, can’t do much more than wriggle once they’re caught.
The other advantage of a salmon dinner is the nutrients — a bit more protein than deer, and lots of those healthy omega-3 fatty acids. For pups, in particular, the nutrients in salmon allow these smallest members of the pack to bulk up before winter.
The researchers found that wolves turned to salmon no matter how many deer were around, suggesting fish are a first-choice option, not a secondary food source when deer numbers are low. The results also show one way in which salmon transfer biomass from the sea to land; the team refers to the wolf as “Canada’s newest marine mammal” (Canada.com).
Image: Chris Darimont
Comments
Given that return migration salmon mate then die... it's an easy meal (possibly for the UVic "Commons" too). How does one differentiate through-gut live catch from scavenged fresh corpses?
Posted by: Uncle Al | September 3, 2008 12:45 AM
I suppose they can't tell if it was fresh-caught or scavenged--and wolves do scavenge. Scientists have also observed wolves fishing (see the picture in the post as well as the Wildlife News piece); they like to eat the head and leave the rest. Regardless of where they get the fish, the paper's point stands: fish are an important part of wolves' diet in the autumn.
Posted by: Amber Dance | September 3, 2008 01:53 AM
Does this mean, that even the wolf's cousin, the dog, can eat fish if introduced to it at the right stage in its life?
I also am aware that Wolves have a natural imunnity to Salmonella poisioning .
I hear some owners in Alaska feed their huskies fish during the Iditarod races. So would fish be a normal natural food for dogs as well?
Just curious...eh my dog also got into my tuna fish sandwich he didnt get sick he just licked his chops like I want more .
I think this is a fascinating find..
especially when dogs and wolves both have so much in common...I watched the animal planet special "The wolf inside" and it was amazing.
Posted by: Lee | September 27, 2008 09:16 PM