Researchers Find Evidence of Mountain Lion Predation on Wolves
OutdoorHub Reporters 12.11.13
Do mountain lions eat wolves? The answer to that is apparently be yes, but very rarely. Researchers with the Wyoming-based Teton Cougar Project recently found evidence that a female cougar ate a young wolf near the city of Jackson Hole. This event is not only rare because the mountain lion consumed the wolf, but also because the large cats rarely get the upper hand in conflicts with their rivals. Cougars and wolves often reside in the same habitat and conflict is not uncommon. As solitary hunters, mountain lions are nearly always outnumbered by the more social canines, and as a result very rarely win these occasional disputes. It is much more common for wolves to kill mountain lions.
According to the Jackson Hole News & Guide, at least one cougar managed to turn the tables. Biologist Mark Elbroch found that one of the cats he had been tracking, known as F109, had recently killed and consumed a young wolf.
“Perhaps the wolves had challenged F109, or perhaps just one of them wandered too close to her kittens, or perhaps a pup felt like exploring on its own—trying to decipher the absolute pandemonium of tracks was beyond us,” Elbroch wrote in an article for the National Geographic.
The evidence was clear; F109 had killed and eaten most of what had been a yearling wolf. All the researchers had left to identify the creature was its skull, everything else had either been consumed by the mountain lion or her kittens. Elbroch explained that the large number of tracks signified that the dead wolf was not alone. An entire pack of wolves had been active in the area. Whether there was a conflict between the two species of predators or an opportunistic kill, Elbroch could only speculate.
“Wolves dominate mountain lions in most encounters,” Elbroch wrote. “But, this recent exchange is particularly exciting. No longer can we say that wolves dominate mountain lions in all encounters.”
It is a heartening victory for the Cougar Project, which earlier in this year found a number of its collared mountain lions slain by wolf packs. Kittens are especially vulnerable, and researchers report that cougar population in Jackson Hole has been cut in nearly half over the last 12 years. With the recent find, Elbroch speculated that mountain lions may be finally adapting to an increased wolf presence, letting the two species coexist with some degree of ecological balance.
