Only nine wolves remain at Isle Royale National Park, an island chain in western Lake Superior, John Flesher reports for the Associated Press. Only one is a female. As recently as 2009, there were 24 wolves.
There is a shortage of females and several packs have broken down in a way that increased inbreeding.
There have been disease breakouts as well as a decrease in the number of moose, a primary food source. The previous low number of wolves was 12 after a parvovirus outbreak in the 1980s.
The National Park Service can introduce new wolves to mix with the remaining animals, let them die off and then replace them, or leave the wolves alone and observe the situation.
Scientists conjecture that the first moose swam to Isle Royale early in the 20th century and began eating the
underbrush in a way that disturbed the trees, seriously altering the environment. The wolves arrived around 1950, eventually forming packs that kept the moose in check.
Visitors enjoy hearing, though rarely seeing the wolves, which are much studied and are perhaps the only place where humans have never killed them.
Wolf experts are hoping that the remaining female will give birth to a healthy litter of pups this year. Moose numbers have increased from 515 last year to about 750, but there is a shortage of elderly moose, the easiest for wolves to kill.
One male wolf is believed to have crossed an ice bridge in the late 1990s, helping to reinvigorate the gene pool, but the island wolves are nearly completely cut off from contact with outside contact.
Controversy exists between the alternatives of passive observation or introducing new wolves right away. The notion of allowing the wolves to disappear permanently is disfavored because of the effects of moose overpopulation on the forest environment.
Summarized from:
http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-isle-royale-wolves-may-extinct-070756309.html
There is a shortage of females and several packs have broken down in a way that increased inbreeding.
There have been disease breakouts as well as a decrease in the number of moose, a primary food source. The previous low number of wolves was 12 after a parvovirus outbreak in the 1980s.
The National Park Service can introduce new wolves to mix with the remaining animals, let them die off and then replace them, or leave the wolves alone and observe the situation.
Scientists conjecture that the first moose swam to Isle Royale early in the 20th century and began eating the
underbrush in a way that disturbed the trees, seriously altering the environment. The wolves arrived around 1950, eventually forming packs that kept the moose in check.
Visitors enjoy hearing, though rarely seeing the wolves, which are much studied and are perhaps the only place where humans have never killed them.
Wolf experts are hoping that the remaining female will give birth to a healthy litter of pups this year. Moose numbers have increased from 515 last year to about 750, but there is a shortage of elderly moose, the easiest for wolves to kill.
One male wolf is believed to have crossed an ice bridge in the late 1990s, helping to reinvigorate the gene pool, but the island wolves are nearly completely cut off from contact with outside contact.
Controversy exists between the alternatives of passive observation or introducing new wolves right away. The notion of allowing the wolves to disappear permanently is disfavored because of the effects of moose overpopulation on the forest environment.
Summarized from:
http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-isle-royale-wolves-may-extinct-070756309.html
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