Where Wolves Grow Old
In the heart of British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest—widely regarded as one of the last truly wild places on Earth—wolves are living unusually long, uninterrupted lives. Unlike in many other regions, these wolves are not facing constant pressure from human persecution. That gives us a rare opportunity to learn from wolves where they are allowed to live out their natural lives and maintain stable pack structures.
For the past three years, a collaborative research program has been uncovering new insights into wolves living in this unique environment, and how they have coexisted with the Haíɫzaqv people for thousands of years. The findings coming out of this study don’t just deepen our understanding of wolves in the Great Bear Rainforest, but they also offer important lessons for how we might approach coexistence and conservation in other regions.
Recently, the research team released trail camera footage that has captured global attention, and for good reason—it offers one of the most sophisticated examples of wild wolf behavior ever documented.
While monitoring efforts to remove invasive European green crabs from the area, the research team began noticing unusual damage to baited traps placed in fairly deep water.
To determine the cause, they set remote cameras along the shoreline. Within two days, they recorded a wolf entering the water, and then calmly emerging from the sea carrying a buoy in her mouth. Using the attached rope, she then pulled the crab trap ashore, opening the bait cup with precision, and feeding from it—behavior that may represent the first documented instance of tool use by a wild canid.
For the past three years, Living with Wolves has supported this groundbreaking project, whose extraordinary discoveries underscore the importance of investing in wolf research.
You can read the newly published paper, Potential Tool Use by Wolves (Canis lupus): Crab Trap Pulling in Haíɫzaqv Nation Territory here. To learn more about the Haíɫzaqv Wolf and Biodiversity Project, visit www.placeofwolves.ca.
