Wolves Pack Together to Out-Eat Ravens

Most predators hunt alone and keep all the food to themselves. But wolves hunt in packs of six or more, then share what they kill. A wolf is powerful enough to bring down even a moose without any help. So why do wolves hunt in packs?

Scientists observing wolves in the wild found an unexpected answer to this question. They noticed that ravens always gather around a wolf pack's prey. The large birds follow the hunting wolves from the air, wait for the wolves to do the hard work, then swoop in to steal an easy meal. Each free-loading raven can eat or carry off as much as four pounds of meat.

When wolves hunted in pairs or small groups, the researchers saw that the ravens got more of the meat, because the wolves just couldn't eat it all fast enough. But when wolves hunted in large packs, the kill was devoured more quickly, and the wolves got more of their hard-earned meal.

So, bigger hunting packs mean less food lost to ravens. Wolves still have to share their food, but with their own brothers and sisters and cousins, not those pesky scavengers!

-Sharon Katz Cooper

Copyright Carus Publishing Company Jan 2005
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