After returning from Axel Heiberg Island, Brutus and probably his pack spent most of their time in the south end of their territory. In several places, 2 consecutive locations were the same, possibly representing kills.Certainly a pack this size will have to be making kills frequently. How they do that in the 24 hours of darkness is a good question that we wish we could answer. The fact that the pack is spending so much time in the south end of its territory implies that many muskoxen may be spending their winter there too.
Just as wolf movements and activity at this time of year are unknown, so too are the movements and behavior of their shaggy prey. Hopefully we can draw some inference about muskox distribution during winter from examining the locations of the wolves.
Dave
Hi, are musk oxen the only prey that Brutus and his pack would be encountering? Thanks, DeLene
ReplyDeleteGood question. They also kill arctic hares, but with a large pack like Brutus’ pack, hares would be insignificant to all but individual wolves that might go off on their own for a few minutes. There are a few Peary caribou around Ellesmere, and the wolves do take them now and then, but there are so few that they also are insignificant to the wolves’ diet. The wolves also take seals that make holes in the ice, but again, a single seal now and then would do little to satisfy the whole pack. Thus I believe almost all the wolves’ travels are related to hunting muskoxen. No one knows how many oxen there are in the pack’s territory but that is something we are working to try to find out.
ReplyDeleteDave
Fascinating! Thanks so much for your response, and for providing this blog. It's a great window of insight into a species that is out of my sight, but not out of my mind.
ReplyDelete