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Germany's wolves are on the rise thanks to a surprising ally: the military
Wolves are an impressive success story for wildlife recovery in central Europe, bouncing back from near extermination in the 20th century to a population of several thousand today. And in Germany, where populations have been growing by 36% per year, military bases have played a surprisingly central role in helping the animals reclaim habitat, a new analysis finds.
[...] The population growth "is quite impressive," says Ilka Reinhardt, a biologist with Lupus, the German Institute for Wolf Monitoring and Research in Spreewitz, who has been involved in efforts to study the wolves since they returned to Germany. The latest data suggest the country has 73 packs and 30 pairs of wolves. "Twenty years ago, no one would have expected this," she adds, noting Germany's fragmented habitat and the prevalence of roads and humans. "It shows how adaptable wolves are."
Reinhardt was particularly struck by their occurrence in military areas. "This was surprising to us," she says. She and her colleagues noticed that the first pair of wolves to show up in a new state always settled on a military training ground. The second pair, and usually the third also sought out military lands. After that, subsequent breeding pairs would be detected in protected areas or other habitats, the team reports online this week [open, DOI: 10.1111/conl.12635] [DX] in Conservation Letters.
The military training grounds were clearly a desired location for pioneers, but what was the appeal? Reinhardt could find no sign that habitat was better there than in nature reserves, as measured by the amount of forest and density of roads. But when they compiled the death records, they were shocked to find that wolf mortality rates were higher in protected areas than in the military training grounds.
The difference seems to be poaching. Although the military training grounds are not fenced—which means wolves and deer can enter and leave at will—they are closed to the public and posted with many signs. The deer populations are managed by federal foresters, so when private hunting occurs, it is strictly regulated. This means fewer opportunities for poaching wolves, Reinhardt says.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 24 2019, @11:02AM (4 children)
Wow, on a streak today with your stupid comments again? Wolves were a nuisance because they could pray on domestic animals... wolves were competition to people, not eating people.
(Score: 4, Funny) by maxwell demon on Sunday February 24 2019, @11:21AM (1 child)
Yeah, praying to anyone but the Christian god was a sure way to get killed in the middle ages. ;-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 24 2019, @08:33PM
From the Book of Victuals, Chapter Nine, Verse 24:
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday February 24 2019, @11:29AM (1 child)
And - which part of my post do you find fault? Are you claiming that wolves didn't eat people? Maybe you would like some education? https://www.fieldandstream.com/wolf-attack-differences-north-america-europe [fieldandstream.com]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday February 24 2019, @11:22PM
The most damage they did to humans where because of/through rabies infection.
Ummm... other than the 'France kept better records of wolf attack' anything else in the linked article is one hypothesis, with a lot many others possible, including:
a. the attacks were as frequent in America as in Europe, but nobody kept or tallied the records of such attacks; *and/or*
b. Americans are likely to carry guns, scaring the wolves away; *and/or*
c. packs of wargs quantum-tunneling from Middle-Earth into this world registers on humanity's conscience higher in a densely populated area (such as Europe) than in a sparsely populated one (such as America). No, seriously, I think JRTolkien's authority beats the one of David E. Petzal (the author of the citation you offered) in terms of unsubstantiated storytelling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford