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Wolves prefer fish dish over deer steak

B.C. wolves turn up their noses at deer when they can catch spawning salmon, study finds

Wolves would rather fish than hunt, says a new Canadian study that found British Columbia wolves turn up their noses at deer when they can catch spawning salmon.

Not only is fish great food, the B.C. biologists found, but it’s also safer for wolves, which can suffer crippling injuries hunting deer and elk.

Chris Darimont’s research team is wryly calling the wolf “Canada’s newest marine mammal.” The term is usually reserved for whales and seals.

“We see this as stepping back in time,” said Darimont, who does his research at the University of Victoria and the Raincoast Conservation Foundation.

The evidence comes partly from 4,000 grey wolf droppings, collected over four years. He washed these and combed through what was left for an analysis of the animals’ diet.

During the spring and summer, the food is at least 90 per cent deer meat. During the fall salmon run, it switches to salmon.

(In case anyone wants to double-check the evidence, about half the wolf poop is still stored in Darimont’s mother’s basement, carefully labelled.)

Further, analysis of tufts of wolf hair shows the chemical clincher. A diet of seafood contributes different atomic forms of carbon and nitrogen than a diet of anything found on land. And these wolves were carrying carbon and nitrogen from the sea.

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