Importance of wolves to

yellowstone National park

Presented by: Mariana, Estela, America & Denise

The three main ideas are:
● The Reintroduction of wolves
● Ecological change
● History of wolves in Yellowstone
 The Reintroduction of Wolves
Researchers have also determined that wolves, in the recent absence of hard winters, are
now the primary reason for elk mortality. Before wolf reintroduction, deep snows were the
main determinant of whether an elk was going to die.
The University of California at Berkeley determined that the combination of less snow and
more wolves has benefited scavengers both big and small, from ravens to grizzly bears.
 Ecological Change
● Wolves play a very important role in the ecosystems in which they live
since 1995, when wolves were reintroduced to the American West,
research has shown that in many places they have helped revitalize and
restore ecosystems. They improve habitat and increase populations of
countless species from birds of prey to pronghorn, and even trout.and
balance out the ecosystem.
History of Wolves in Yellowstone
● By 1926, as a result of federal and state predator control efforts, gray
wolves (Canis lupus) were officially extirpated from Yellowstone National
Park, WY.
● Wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone was part of the much larger Northern
Rocky Mountain wolf recovery
● By 2002 the US Fish and Wildlife Service's recovery goals were met: the
Northern Rockies were now home to 30 breeding wolf pairs, uniformly
distributed throughout these three Rocky Mountain recovery areas for three
successive years.
● To facilitate monitoring and research, all of the wolves brought from Canada
were radio-collared before their release into Yellowstone.This tradition of
research continues today,each year.
List & explain 2 careers in science that directly
address the topic
● One reason do large carnivores keep their own number in number check?
The apex predators are commonly defined as the top predator at the top of
food chain and given in that they are safe from predation, ecologist sipport
idea that limits population size of apex predators.

● Another thing is how the death of one wolf can affect the entire back because they
are a family and they help each other out and help the young wolves and losing a
specific individuals from such a complex social groups are still poorly understood
Explain the importance of this topic to science and
society

Before its persecution by humans, the wolf (Canis lupus) had the
greatest distribution of any land mammal in the world except man.
Information and images

Recourses

● http://www.ecology.info/wolf.htm

https://www.livingwithwolves.org/about-wolves/why-wolves-matter/
https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/wolf-reintroduction-changes-ec
osystem

https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/wolves.htm
https://www.yellowstonepark.com/park/yellowstone-wolves-reintroduction

http://www.sonorannews.com/archives/2013/130123/comm-wolf.html

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/g/gray-wolf/
http://earthsky.org/earth/did-glaciers-lure-wolves-back-to-california