26 Sept 2014

Wolves Do Not Eat Mice. Seriously.

Wolves do not eat mice. Seriously.
"But Lindsey," you protest, "I've seen Never Cry Wolf six times and those wolves ate mice."
Yeah. Never Cry Wolf? Not a documentary.
Adult wolves usually weigh between 55-130 pounds - at the top end of the range, small-adult-human-sized. So picture yourself taking a nap in a less dodgy part of New York's Central Park. You wake up to discover a single potato chip in front of your nose. Assuming it's hermetically sealed and therefore sanitary, you'll eat it, right? Who wouldn't?
But the kind person who left the chip there didn't leave the rest of the bag. So you go for a walk, hunting for more chips. Then you spot one up a tree, because in this extremely strained metaphor, the chips can climb trees. You, however, not that good at it. So you sweat and struggle and pant your way up the branches until you capture the second chip. Except eating it doesn't even dent your raging hunger, because you just burned more calories climbing than are actually contained in the chip.
Now imagine that you had to share that second chip with seven of your closest friends and relatives. How long will it be before you realize that a much better strategy is to knock over a hot dog cart and be done with it?
And that is why the preferred prey of wolves is ungulates - large, hoofed mammals like elk or caribou. Because if the pack actually manages to catch one, all of its members will not only get to eat, they'll be full for a couple of days.
Scientists call this optimal foraging theory. Simply put, it's the idea that animals will focus on food items that give them the most nutrition for the least amount of effort required to catch (or graze) that particular food. And it's why wolves - unless they are old, sick, or one runs right past their noses - don't eat mice.
Thus endeth the rant of the former wolf geneticist, who read a short story this week that mentioned the whole wolf/mice thing and spontaneously combusted due to rage (again). :)
What about you? Are there any bits of persistent misinformation that make you want to set your head on fire? Have you ever seen real live wolves hunting? Are you able to eat just one potato chip? Inquiring minds want to know!


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

If I had to I could eat only one potato chip. contrary to popular belief living in a highly developed urban area like NY is not living in the wild. Have you ever trekked in the wild carrying your own food on your back and/or hunting and fishing to stay alive?
Do you or have you ever owned a dog? They do not eat very much-even an active working dog especially if that is 100% protein. Have you ever been in the wild during a mouse plague or when food become short? They will run you over in your sleeping bag-so more like popcorn with the lid off rather than a potato chip in the wind. Potato chips?? Honestly. The comparative food value to a hunky protein rich rodent is laughable.
Anyway. Wolves do eat mice. Fish, lizards, birds and anything like crickets and grasshoppers if they have to. Gorging on fresh kill of large mammals that they have successful brought down in a pack hunt in which they can eat up to 20 kg at a sitting so as not to let things go to waste.
Their diet is variable to their conditions. The jury is still out on exactly what they do eat according to several recent scientific research articles.

But thank you. Due to the resurgence of the need to hunt these mammals for sport and the signing of legislation to make it possible to so I revisited the research myself. Which made me fine your site. What have you found that supports your view? Interested to read the articles you used to write your blog. "Wolves do not eat Mice Seriously." when studies of their scat prove that they do.Or does seriously mean that they do eat mice but laughing all the way.

Unknown said...

There are literally videos of wild wolves hunting mice though

Suzy Grindrod said...

Hi Lindsey -- Suzy Grindrod here. What are the chances that I would find this little article written by you, while researching wolves for the preschool class I am teaching next week at the nature center? I hope that all is well!

Aahm said...

In Never Cry Wolf, the female wolf ate mice while she was nursing her cubs, and thus, could not hunt. I have no doubt that wolves prefer large prey when they are free to hunt with the pack, but why would they not take advantage of a readily available source of nutrition when they can't?

Logan MacDonald said...

Never Cry Wolf is not a documentary, but it is based on a book by a guy that did more research than you did. Actual research, not theorizing like Aristotle using logic to state that bat's are a type of bird and that the world fits in some perfect geometric shaped box. The argument put forth is not that they only eat mice and no caribou, but that the amount of caribou they eat is not wasteful and not enough to damage herd populations, which is something they have gotten blamed for and for which we have responded with strychnine and shooting them from helicopters. Also you know, just the general demonization of wolves in general so that people hate and fear them and feel justified and their extermination. Wolves are pretty smart and successful, part of that is being highly adaptable and eating whatever seems the most worthwhile, sometimes it's a caribou, sometimes it's mice. Eagles can take a deer or wolf, but they don't consistently, because no hunter can consistently take what they want every time, that's not how the world works. Unless you have money, (which wolves have not adapted to), then you can pay someone to drive or fly you so you hunt whatever you want.

Unknown said...

Not a scientist, but I had a wolf. (And yes, she was confirmed as a wolf by a vet referral and then a wildlife rescue employee. Her backstory is long.) I can testify that she did eat mice. I wish she wouldn't have eaten any wildlife as it did end up killing her, but there was no stopping her. Many walks in unmanned fields and she would be off twisting her head this way and that, orienting and focusing until BAM! She'd pounce and come up with a squeaking, crunchy snack. At least it was less of a bloody mess than when she got a rabbit.

Now, she was well fed and didn't need to eat mice. I don't think it is what she would have chosen as her main sustenance in the wild. But if she was out and about and heard a squeak, she would definitely try to munch it down. I offer that it is the same for wild wolves.

Anonymous said...

Yep! I’ve witnessed wolves on the Alaskan tundra devouring them by the dozens!