Super rare footage of a wolf attacking and killing a beaver
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- Опубліковано 14 жов 2024
- The absolute trail camera jackpot-we just captured the second known video ever, as far we are aware, of a wolf attacking and killing a beaver. And this was a pretty sizable beaver too! How amazing is that!?
Earlier this year, we posted rare footage we captured of a wolf in our area almost catching a beaver on a dam. That was really neat to see but in that video, the wolf never made contact with the beaver and the beaver narrowly escaped.
This beaver wasn’t so lucky. In this video from Sept 17, the beaver left the water at 1:09 A.M. to go forage on a 49 m/160 ft long trail-a pretty long trail for a beaver. Just four minutes later, the beaver was attacked by Wolf V094, the breeding male of the Half-Moon Pack.
A brief chaotic struggle ensued and then all went quiet as the wolf and beaver moved out of frame. About 19 hr later, we captured a video of a different wolf walking in front of the camera with a beaver head in its mouth. A few days later, we hiked out and found the bloody remains of this kill not far from our camera.
The beaver put up a valiant fight and at a few points was only a few meters from the safety of water. If the beaver could have just freed itself for a few moments, it might have lived. But it couldn’t…there appears to be a thin margin for beavers between life and death when on land!
The only other video observation we know of was recorded in Quebec in Fall 2015. Given how rare that was, we worked with the person who recorded the video and wrote a scientific paper on the observation trying to glean as much insight as we could from it.
Bit of backstory on the video:
The footage was captured by Dani Freund, a graduate student at the University of Minnesota, and two field technicians-Sage Patchett and Olivia Jensen-that are assisting Dani with her work.
Dani’s graduate work is looking at how wolf predation and other factors influence beavers stress levels. In other words, do beavers in ponds with higher wolf activity levels have higher stress levels than beavers in ponds that have lower wolf activity levels? Or are beaver stress levels driven largely by other factors such as food availability or competition from neighboring beavers?
The way Dani is examining beaver stress is by collecting beaver hair samples and measuring stress levels in the hair. And her hair collection method entails using a strand of barbed wire that the beavers crawl over to get on land (you can see this in the video).
When the beavers crawl over the wire, tufts of hair get caught on the wire and then those hair samples can be collected and analyzed. This is a common method used to get hair samples -biologists often refer to barbed wire and other similar contraptions devised to collect hair from wildlife as “hair snares”.
All this to say, this camera, which was kindly lent to us from the Offal Wildlife Watching Project at the University of Minnesota, was not set here in the hopes of capturing a wolf killing a beaver but rather to monitor beavers crawling over the hair snare.
But sometimes it is better to be lucky than good! And we certainly think we had a stroke of luck. We have had a lot of cameras out over the past 9 years in the area and we have never captured anything like this!
Learn more about the Voyageurs Wolf Project:
Website: www.voyageurswo...
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Amazing footage. Wolves are usually pursuit hunters, so watching they can also ambush a prey is pretty awesome. Thanks for sharing.
Predator and prey....the ongoing, and necessary, balance of nature.
No such thing as balance in nature. It's in a state of constant flux.
@@kittyemzcanada No it doesn't, and that alleged balance is neither ongoing nor necessary anyway. Nature doesn't require balance, or flux for that matter. Nature just is. Things happen, and have consequences. There's no reason, purpose or goal. Cause and effect result in continuous and never-ending change, none of which has balance as the desired or intended outcome. Besides, I haven't the faintest idea what this supposed balance is supposed to be anyhow. Stable beaver and wolf populations, perhaps? That makes no sense whatsoever.
@@johanrebelmy explanation is too involved for this platform. We'll just have to shake hands and agree to disagree. 💙🙏
Peace.
Nature is so brutal man. Hearing that breathing and wrestling around was so intense
Wow, that is an amazing capture! I appreciate the explanation of the barbed wire/hair snare. Looks like it doesn't cause too much trouble for the beavers and is a nice passive mode of collection.
What was the purpose of barbed wire?
@@erikatowle8695 to collect hair from the beaver while it crawls over it
The absence of big predators like wolves partly explains why beavers are out of control now in so many parts of North America.
Great footage!
So exciting!! This project has recorded so many neat behaviors.
0:14 - 0:15
The desperate beaver's last words were: "Fetch, boy! Get the stick! Get the stick!!"
What a lucky catch! I wonder how frequently wolves patrol beaver trails like this.
Amazing
Skilled hunter at work
it is incredible that you managed to get this on camera! amazing to see!
That beaver really picked the wrong time to stray away from its dam.
Wow I didn't know beavers could get caught by a wolf! :0 🐺🐺🐺
Ugggh. Poor beaver.....nature is just.....nature
The wolf looks pregnant. That meal should satisfy her growing pups.
I once found what was left of a beaver after a mountain lion had gotten it on the banks of the Niobrara River in northcentral Nebraska, about 100 feet from my house at that time.
stunning footage,thanks.
nothing is Hungry Like the Wolf...(yeah, that happend)
Life and death for creatures we love very much.
Fascinating
Thank you
If the wolf had been in the water the outcome would've been different. Beavers will kill dogs in the water around their dams. The beavers get on the back of the dogs and attack their necks, killing them.
Interesting footage, thanks.
Yes, they are very dangerous animals. Those teeth are like chisels!
Looks like a trap at entrance to water
A booby trap for sure!
oh wow his belly is full at the end of the video
What an awesome, not so much for the beaver, but awesome capture non the less! Question would be if the wolf was waiting, stalking the prey or if it was a mere chance that he was passing by and grabbed the opportunity. Either way thanks as always for giving us these glimpses of wild life that other wise we never would have experience.
Is that barbed wire hanging across the path down to the water?
Indeed it is, and therefore explained in the description.😌
if that beaver didn't cross that barb wire it will still be alive. great camera sequence of nature in action.
What is the wire for
That is explained in the description.😌
RIP MR. Beaver ... may you return as Grizzly Bear next time.
Niesamowite nagranie, ale co tam robi ten drut kolczasty. Pozdrawiam
Very cool to see
no such thing as stressed or ofc stressed or etc, do things not stressx etc about things, otherx
Thumbs up!
Pretty sure the wolf took the beaver head home and had it mounted on the wall of his den.
Nature, you scary!
Why is the Wolf wearing a collar on his neck and for what reason there is barbed wire ?
I had some beaver last night.
Was that the beavers' head at the end where the wolf had in it's mouth? Pretty big beaver too. It definitely put up a fight to get away, but it was futile to say the least with 170 to 200lb wolf.
That wolf probably weighed less than half that actually.
As far as Im concerned, you can kill every wolf you can find.
Why?🤔
Bob Cats and Lynxs also prey on Beavers what about them
And as far as I'm concerned, you sound insufferable to be around
As far as I’m concerned, you want the ecosystem destroyed.
Cool Video cool UA-cam 👍🏻
We like to romanticize nature, but carrying off the beaver's head. What survival utility does that provide to the wolf? Seems a bit like a human hunter with animal heads mounded on the wall.
Why is there a barb wire where the beaver stepped over? Human intervention for video clicks.....
That wire may have alerted the wolf, not natural.
What's that barbed wire doing there? (And thanks a zillion for the explanatory captions and arrows. Would never have been able to tell wolf from beaver otherwise).
Did the wolf get cancelled and demonetized. Also he called the beaver a she before killing so double the fine.
It was totally not necessary to show one animal brutally killing another
It was totally not necessary to watch the video or spill your drivel…