The WOLVES of Yellowstone | Science Nation

Loathed as a threat and nuisance, the wolf population in Yellowstone National Park was essentially wiped out by the mid 1920's. That changed in 1995, when the National Park Service reintroduced them there, with the goal of restoring a natural predator/prey dynamic to the landscape.
So, 20 years later, how has the park's ecosystem responded to the return of the wolves? That's just what Utah State University wildlife ecologist Dan MacNulty and his team want to find out.
With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), and working in partnership with the National Park Service, MacNulty and his team are hot on the trail of the wolves' primary prey--elk. The team is following individually marked wolves and elk to determine how and why wolf-elk interactions fluctuate over time, the effects of these fluctuations on wolf traits and vital rates, and how wolves, grizzly bears and cougars interact to influence elk mortality rates. Fuller understanding of what's happening here could translate to better predator management decisions all over the globe.
The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1245373, Collaborative Research: LTREB Renewal: Yellowstone wolves: their ecology and community consequences.
NSF Grant URL: www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAw...
Miles O'Brien, Science Nation Correspondent
Kate Tobin, Science Nation Producer

[@nicole-op2yj]

0:02 My brain when I have to watch this for school.

[@BenDover-bf5qs]

Hey guys who’s watching this for the ELA test

[@bradleygill6493]

im doing it for science

[@wolftimeplusguineapigs3862]

Lol sure

[@StefaniaCzech]

Nature inspires me I will spend the rest my days trying to reset the balance

[@rsgenocidnatvorevina]

Nice

[@fierceant2048]

Who's watching this in online school?

[@NeWx89]

Miles O'Brien? aren't you suppose to be in the 24th century? ..

[@graciewillier3280]

Environmental science babeyyyyyyyy

[@yungheartbreak2079]

My favorite color of the alphabete is cheese :D

[@bradleygill6493]

OMG ME TOO

[@laurabonnell3776]

Hey its how wolfs rolls they need to eat. Humans needs to step back . You can't kill all wolfs either. They keep balance

[@lisaolson4347]

TRUE! Especially with animals like the wolves we've done too much invasion.

[@london_september9396]

We all need to step away from controling wolves lives, its so sad to see a wolf die... since my dog used to be a wolf too

[@MichaelWilson-xc1uk]

God remedy resolve me all the great God reset x G the valleys gorges on Earth this Solar System this Galaxy this Universe past present future x G with the return of the wolf packs and other eco system engineers changing the behaviours of the rivers the trees the rainfall relocating the destructive grazers and reduce the coyote type predators. Thanks God
💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞

[@allegrakefford9317]

they bad asf for this lowkey
EDIT: thanks for all the likes guys :D

[@godzilladestroyscities1757]

18,000 down to 4,000? How is that sustainable?

[@user-hk1ke9xp2o]

there were 18000 before the wolves were introduced. There fore there ware no predators for the elk other than the rare bears. Do notice that the elks had big impacts on the park, for example, there were no young trees for many years since the elk ate the saplings. After the wolves were returned, the elk population was put back under control by their natural predators. This way, they were reduced to 4000.
Right now the park has gotten back to the balances state of the local ecosystem - how many organisms of each species(animals and plans alike) can be properly sustained by the ecosystem.

[@fiselfrazel1064]

Ryan Brown 18,000 was an all time high for the elk population and when your at an all time high it is hard to go anywhere but down. Also increased hunting pressure from both humans and predators(wolves, cougars, bears, coyotes) and climate change is the reason for decline but I think several thousand is the normal population(thats only the Yellowstone park population). The population of the greater yellowstone ecosystem is about 20,000 at least but it’s going down due to the reasons I said above climate change and increased hunting pressure.

[@Twilight24682]

I’m pretty sure wolves didn’t kill that many elk I’m sure hunters were also responsible oh but let’s just blame wolves gives the wolf hating idiots more excuse to hate them

[@luna-jj4cw]

Them killing them isn't a bad thing without the wolf's the animals go out of control the ecosystem needs wolf's.

[@london_september9396]

Thats hurtful to the life

[@allegrakefford9317]

TRUE