How Wolves Brought Yellowstone Back to Life
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2021-08-29に共有
The return of wolves brought about a whole host of ecological changes, starting with the return of vital riparian trees like cottonwoods, aspens, and willows. The return of Yellowstone’s streamside vegetation also meant the return of beavers, fish, muskrats, and other animals. More elk carcasses meant more food for bears, cougars, eagles, and vultures. Yellowstone’s wolves even changed rivers themselves. With trees on their banks, rivers were stabilized and less susceptible to erosion.
Perhaps even more remarkably, wolves even changed elk behavior. Termed the “Valley of Fear,” the very presence of wolves in Yellowstone caused elk to avoid certain areas simply because they were scared. Wolves saved Yellowstone by bringing back ecological relationships that were centuries old, but had been lost in the last 100 years.
In this video, we’re taking a look at all of that and more, as we breakdown the Yellowstone wolf reintroduction. This video is also the second installment in my series on the Green World Hypothesis and predators in National Parks. If you want to see the first installment, you can check that out here: • The Fascinating Ecology of Isle Royal...
Enjoy!
コメント (21)
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Beautiful creatures.
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I have been to Yellowstone so many times I have lost count. On several occasions I have been privileged to watch wolves from the roadside. While backpacking, I have been able to listen to them Howell while sitting by the campfire, a really great experience. On one occasion, again while backpacking, we came across a wolf family playing in the meadow not very far from our trail. We spent about 30 minutes just sitting there watching them. It was a really neat experience.
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I had the amazing opportunity to watch a pack of wolves chase a pack of bison in Yellowstone back in 2012 from a cliff side down a valley, we spent an hour watch the clever wolves try and take the smaller and weaker buffalo out of the herd only to have the larger ones scare them off over and over, it was amazing
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This series is about to blow up
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Love your videos. As someone who lives and camps in Minnesota, I have to say that wolves are beautiful thing. One note: the term 'cow' only refers to a female with calf. The collective term of these animals is 'cattle'.
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The way wolves were treated in prior years was really disgraceful, it reflected just gross ignorance of their place in the environment and a lack of respect for other types of life. Back then the idea was that the land was to be dominated by man and any species that got in the way were to be eradicated. You can see that not just with wolves but also with bison, prairie dogs, cougars, grizzly bears and many others.
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I'm sure this is a great video. I'm so appreciative of you spreading awareness and hope more people find this video and channel (I have a weird knack for finding people right before they blow up... so let's hope!) but I physically can't watch it because the subject matter is making me livid. Nature deserves better.
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Great episode. Very informative. I just hope the current frenzy to "control" wolf populations in Idaho and Wyoming don't upset this restoration and re-balancing in those locations. On a side note, the new logo looks great!
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I am very impressed by the clarity of your presentation and simplicity of the narration. Thank you for being an exclusively nature channel. Subbed.
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one of my new favorite channels in yt.
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Excellent video, thank you!
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So beautiful it leaves you speechless
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It’s amazing what nature can do when people leave it alone and don’t meddle with nature’s way of life. There’s true wisdom in that.
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Nice presentation, essence is we have to think of the whole ecosystem
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There were more than just 8 wolves introduced in 1995. There were 31 wolves in a few different packs.
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I appreciate how you make allowances for the fact that humans are constantly learning from experiences. You could have easily engaged in the very popular politics of personal destruction but you took the old school approach instead. You’re very wise.. thanks for modeling productive public discourse. 👍🇺🇸
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So glad you brought up the trophic cascade and it's importance to biodiversity in yellowstone
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Never knew abou the Human-Wolf conflict. Such a great video!!
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you should do a video on the red wolf
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Ask the diminished mountain lion population what they think of the Park's wolves. Park lion population has been reduced by 50% since reintroduction. We just pick and choose which animals to save.
