What was a problem with invasive European green crabs revealed completely unexpected behavior on the part of nearby wolves.
Canadian researchers, who have been monitoring the species for years to control the crab population, recorded, in British Columbia, wolves manipulating crab traps in a strategic way never before seen in the species. using tools.
The phenomenon was captured by remote cameras installed to identify who stole the bait from the traps. Within minutes, a wolf swam to the beach with a trap in its mouth and lifted the buoy, dragged the line until the trap partially emerged from the water and opened it to access the bait. Everything as if he knew exactly from the beginning what he had to do. And so, three minutes defied everything what we have learned over decades about the behavior of these animals.
The study, out November 17 in the journal Ecology and Evolution, describes this behavior as a “potential use of tool”as it is not yet known whether this is an isolated phenomenon or whether it is widespread among wolves in the region. The investigation indicates that, so far, at least two wolves have been observed capable of identifying and opening traps to access the bait, but how they do it remains a great mystery.
But… how? There are two hypotheses
One of the researchers’ hypotheses is that the wolves may have learned by observing the guardians of the Haíɫzaqv nation, who remove the traps by lifting them vertically from the water, says . The wolves may have replicated this action, but horizontally, dragging the traps to the beach. Another possibility is that they understood the tidal patterns, taking advantage of the fact that the traps only appear at certain times.
The sophisticated behavior of these wolves, in an area with minimal human presence, raises questions about the impact of human activity on animal intelligence and the management of invasive species. The researchers suggest that the absence of human persecution may have allowed the development of this complex strategy, also questioning negative traditional perceptions about wolves.
