Wolf Depredation 3. Livestock Toleration Why So Few? How can we explain livestock toleration? Livestock toleration is when wolves frequently come into contact with livestock yet kill relatively few livestock animals. The big question to explain is not why wolves kill livestock, but why, given they have the opportunity, do they kill so few. Researchers have thrown about various ideas. Search Image This idea evokes the concept of a search image. Animals are hypothesised to develop a mental image of their prey, called a 'search image'. While searching for their prey they match the image in their mind with what they encounter on their way. When the mental image matches what they see then they are more likely to attack it. Fritts et al (1992) apply the search image idea to wolves. Wolves tend to go after wild prey because their search image is stamped more firmly in wolves' minds. This is because wild prey can be found at all times of year, whereas livestock at higher latitudes in North America are only let loose outdoors in the warmer months and so are seen relatively less often by wolves. The question then arises as to whether wolves living where livestock are plentiful all year round also show livestock toleration. In Spain where red deer, roe deer, chamois and wild boar are plentiful there is still widespread loss of livestock compared with other areas (Blanco et al 1992). Other Ideas Other ideas to explain wolf livestock toleration include: Control: wolves who specialise in preying on livestock are killed off during wolf control efforts Taste: wolves prefer the taste of wild prey Culture: where wolves customarily prey on wild ungulates they pass on their behaviour to their offspring. A Prime Mystery A full and satisfactory explanation for why wolves kill so few livestock when they could kill more remains to be found. It is one of the big mysteries about wolves. © Wolf Trust 2004. All rights reserved.

Home - Wolf Trust Home - Thinking Wolves Wolf Depredation 1 Introduction 2 Perspective On Losses 3 Livestock Toleration 4 Verifying Wolf Kills 5 Economic Impact 6 Wolf-Killed Dogs 7 Surplus Killing 8 Conclusions 9 References Regarding Culture Orca (Orca orca) - otherwise known as killer whales - are the wolves of the sea. Some orca pods specialise hunting mammals whereas others specialise hunting fish. These are traditions - or culture - passed on from one generation to another.