Wolf Canis lupus predation on moose Alces alces and roe deer Capreolus capreolus in south‐central Scandinavia

During 1988–1992, 684 scats were collected throughout the year in the territory of the only reproducing family group (mean five individuals) of wolves Canis lupus in Scandinavia. Moose Alces alces , roe deer Capreolus capreolus , and badger Meles meles constituted the three most important prey speci...

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Published in:Wildlife Biology
Main Authors: Olsson, Olof, Wirtberg, Jan, Andersson, Marianne, Wirtberg, Ingrid
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 1997
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/wlb.1997.003
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/wlb.1997.003
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/wlb.1997.003
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spelling crwiley:10.2981/wlb.1997.003 2024-06-23T07:45:11+00:00 Wolf Canis lupus predation on moose Alces alces and roe deer Capreolus capreolus in south‐central Scandinavia Olsson, Olof Wirtberg, Jan Andersson, Marianne Wirtberg, Ingrid 1997 http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/wlb.1997.003 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/wlb.1997.003 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/wlb.1997.003 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Wildlife Biology volume 3, issue 1, page 13-25 ISSN 1903-220X 1903-220X journal-article 1997 crwiley https://doi.org/10.2981/wlb.1997.003 2024-06-11T04:45:40Z During 1988–1992, 684 scats were collected throughout the year in the territory of the only reproducing family group (mean five individuals) of wolves Canis lupus in Scandinavia. Moose Alces alces , roe deer Capreolus capreolus , and badger Meles meles constituted the three most important prey species, and hair from them was found in 52%, 50%, and 19% of scats, respectively. When compensating for different area/volume ratios in prey species of different size, these three species were estimated to constitute 97% of the biomass ingested. The proportions of moose, roe deer, and badger were 66%, 27%, and 8% by mass, and 25%, 52%, and 23% by number, respectively. Young‐of‐the‐year dominated two samples of dead moose (51% of 65 killed by wolves; 43% of 155 killed by hunters), but no significant differences between the samples were found in any age class. Wolves killed significantly more female moose (76%) than hunters (53%), and among wolf‐predated moose, no male was older than two years. Mean winter density of moose and roe deer in the wolf territory (523 km 2 ), estimated by fecal pellet group counts, was 1.5 moose and 0.4 roe deer/km 2 . Moose density decreased slightly at the end of the study, but it was estimated that wolves killed only about 5% of the moose population each year and that this could be compensated for by a decrease of about 10–20% in the hunter kill. In spite of a high predation pressure from wolves, in addition to predation from an increasing lynx Lynx lynx population, the density of roe deer increased threefold. It is concluded that the future predation pressure on moose may be more pronounced if the density of wolves increases, and roe deer may be more affected by predation when the present favourable ecological conditions cease. Article in Journal/Newspaper Alces alces Canis lupus Lynx Lynx lynx lynx Wiley Online Library Wildlife Biology 3 1 13 25
institution Open Polar
collection Wiley Online Library
op_collection_id crwiley
language English
description During 1988–1992, 684 scats were collected throughout the year in the territory of the only reproducing family group (mean five individuals) of wolves Canis lupus in Scandinavia. Moose Alces alces , roe deer Capreolus capreolus , and badger Meles meles constituted the three most important prey species, and hair from them was found in 52%, 50%, and 19% of scats, respectively. When compensating for different area/volume ratios in prey species of different size, these three species were estimated to constitute 97% of the biomass ingested. The proportions of moose, roe deer, and badger were 66%, 27%, and 8% by mass, and 25%, 52%, and 23% by number, respectively. Young‐of‐the‐year dominated two samples of dead moose (51% of 65 killed by wolves; 43% of 155 killed by hunters), but no significant differences between the samples were found in any age class. Wolves killed significantly more female moose (76%) than hunters (53%), and among wolf‐predated moose, no male was older than two years. Mean winter density of moose and roe deer in the wolf territory (523 km 2 ), estimated by fecal pellet group counts, was 1.5 moose and 0.4 roe deer/km 2 . Moose density decreased slightly at the end of the study, but it was estimated that wolves killed only about 5% of the moose population each year and that this could be compensated for by a decrease of about 10–20% in the hunter kill. In spite of a high predation pressure from wolves, in addition to predation from an increasing lynx Lynx lynx population, the density of roe deer increased threefold. It is concluded that the future predation pressure on moose may be more pronounced if the density of wolves increases, and roe deer may be more affected by predation when the present favourable ecological conditions cease.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Olsson, Olof
Wirtberg, Jan
Andersson, Marianne
Wirtberg, Ingrid
spellingShingle Olsson, Olof
Wirtberg, Jan
Andersson, Marianne
Wirtberg, Ingrid
Wolf Canis lupus predation on moose Alces alces and roe deer Capreolus capreolus in south‐central Scandinavia
author_facet Olsson, Olof
Wirtberg, Jan
Andersson, Marianne
Wirtberg, Ingrid
author_sort Olsson, Olof
title Wolf Canis lupus predation on moose Alces alces and roe deer Capreolus capreolus in south‐central Scandinavia
title_short Wolf Canis lupus predation on moose Alces alces and roe deer Capreolus capreolus in south‐central Scandinavia
title_full Wolf Canis lupus predation on moose Alces alces and roe deer Capreolus capreolus in south‐central Scandinavia
title_fullStr Wolf Canis lupus predation on moose Alces alces and roe deer Capreolus capreolus in south‐central Scandinavia
title_full_unstemmed Wolf Canis lupus predation on moose Alces alces and roe deer Capreolus capreolus in south‐central Scandinavia
title_sort wolf canis lupus predation on moose alces alces and roe deer capreolus capreolus in south‐central scandinavia
publisher Wiley
publishDate 1997
url http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/wlb.1997.003
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/wlb.1997.003
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/wlb.1997.003
genre Alces alces
Canis lupus
Lynx
Lynx lynx lynx
genre_facet Alces alces
Canis lupus
Lynx
Lynx lynx lynx
op_source Wildlife Biology
volume 3, issue 1, page 13-25
ISSN 1903-220X 1903-220X
op_rights http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor
op_doi https://doi.org/10.2981/wlb.1997.003
container_title Wildlife Biology
container_volume 3
container_issue 1
container_start_page 13
op_container_end_page 25
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