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The history of wolves in Yellowstone includes the extirpation, absence and reintroduction of wild populations of the gray wolf (Canis lupus) to Yellowstone National Park and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. When the park was created in 1872, wolf populations were already in decline in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho.
It is estimated that approximately 500 wolves are present now throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The wolves’ presence played a vital role in increasing the health and diversity of ...
Because of overgrazing, deciduous woody plant species, such as upland aspen and riparian cottonwood, became seriously diminished. So, because the keystone predators, the wolves, had been removed from the Yellowstone-Idaho ecosystem, the ecosystem changed. This change affected other species as well.
The reintroduction of wolves in 1995 has significantly decreased the coyote population, although those who remain often scavenge from wolf kills. Throughout the restoration project, coyote research has continued, with an eye toward identifying the interactions between coyotes and wolves and on assessing the effects of wolves on coyote populations.
Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero / The Daily Beast / Getty When a common parasite infects wolves, it changes their behavior and turns them into risk-taking animals that could help them become ...
Thousands of gray wolves roamed America's wilderness for centuries until hunters, ranchers and others nearly decimated the species. In 1973, the federal government listed them as endangered in the ...
The restoration of the gray wolf to the Yellowstone National Park not only restores an important ecosystem component (the wolf) and process (predation by wolves) to bring the park into better ecological balance, but it also is economically sound. After weighing the costs (including full reimbursement to ranchers for the loss of livestock) and ...
A classic example of a terrestrial trophic cascade is the reintroduction of gray wolves (Canis lupus) to Yellowstone National Park, which reduced the number, and changed the behavior, of elk (Cervus canadensis). This in turn released several plant species from grazing pressure and subsequently led to the transformation of riparian ecosystems. [17]