Beaver narrowly escapes jaws of hungry wolf hunting it, ‘amazingly lucky’ video shows
.png "A trail camera caught rare video of a wolf hunting a beaver, Minnesota researchers say.")
A beaver in far northern Minnesota came within inches of a hungry wolf on the hunt, video shows. But researchers are calling the footage “amazingly lucky” for another reason.
In the trail camera video, shared July 12 by the Voyageurs Wolf Project, a wolf is seen running along the lip of a pond, closing in on a beaver that seems, at least initially, unsure of what to do or where to go.
At the last possible moment, the beaver flees down its dam, narrowly avoiding the wolf’s jaws, then escapes by jumping into a frigid pond, video shows.
“A super-duper, amazingly lucky trail camera capture: we finally caught a wolf hunting a beaver on video!!!” researchers said. “We cannot overstate how rare such observations are.”
While it’s well established that wolves around the world hunt beavers, there is little video of it happening, researchers said, adding that the only other such video they’re aware of was captured in 2015 in Quebec.
“As a result, the mechanics and nuances of how wolves hunt and kill beavers remains largely a mystery … one we are slowly trying to unravel using indirect evidence from kills, GPS-collar movements, etc,” researchers said.
This footage, though brief, is spurring new questions and insights for researchers.
Launched by the University of Minnesota, the Voyageurs Wolf Project is focused on observing wolf behavior and movements within the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem of northern Minnesota.
Wolves are a protected species in Minnesota and there are an estimated 2,700 spread across half of the state, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
“Wolf population growth in Minnesota has contributed significantly to the expansion of wolf range in other parts of the upper Great Lakes region that includes Wisconsin and Michigan,” the department said. “Minnesota’s wolf population represents nearly half of the current wolf population within the lower 48 states.”
This story was originally published July 13, 2023 at 11:48 AM with the headline "Beaver narrowly escapes jaws of hungry wolf hunting it, ‘amazingly lucky’ video shows."