3 ms·

What drives Yellowstone's elk migrations?

• jboggan 7y ago
  I'm surprised there wasn't anything mentioned about the effects of predation. They absolutely know when the regular human hunting seasons are and adjust their local migration accordingly - they'll be in high mountainous areas one day, then down in privately owned and farmed bottom land during the season, and back up the the elevations when that is over. I'd be more interested to see the effects of the wolf packs on their migration, which from my anecdotal experience affects their location far more acutely than the environmental conditions.
  • marcrosoft 7y ago
    Yeah and the fact that thousands of wolves were artificially placed in Yellowstone.
    • imiller 7y ago
      I think you meant 41. https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/wolves.htm https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/wolves.htm
    • wil421 7y ago
      After they were artificially removed.
  • yincrash 7y ago
    Estimated 286 wolves in Wyoming right now (according to WGFD). Wyoming Game and Fish Department also made a map of estimated ranges of each pack. https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/environmental/by-design-wolf-counts-shrink/article_8d1fce02-dd16-5d12-84d7-7684ba8627a3.html https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/environmental/by-design-... Anyone want to overlay the two maps?
  • frankbreetz 7y ago
    I heard a very inserting TED talk[0] about the wolves in Yellowstone, actually indirectly changing the course of the river, and returning much of Yellowstone to its previous glory. The speaker wants to reintroduce these mega faunae all over the world. I don't remember if he brings up the elk or not. [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbrq08p7zfM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbrq08p7zfM