Meet Split Ear
Katmai National Park is estimated to have at least six wolf packs that roam the area. Katmai’s coastlines span over 500 miles, and having six wolf packs roam the coasts is very high density compared to wolves in other areas. This means that wolves are presented with unique opportunities for hunting and sustaining themselves.
During our 2019 expedition, we encountered a lone female known as Split Ear. She was roaming the wash out of low tide where the brackish glacial water met the sea. Often, we see bears, eagles, seabirds, and wolves during low tide as they look for salmon carcasses, dig for clams, and other animals that wash up on the shore. She stopped at a channel where she would wait patiently, then run after a salmon to ground it against the shallow rocks. We watched her do this on multiple occasions, only eating the brain of the salmon, as it is her favorite and the most nutritious part of the fish. This was one of the most unique encounters we have seen with wolves in Katmai National Park. We have seen them clamming during full moon low tides on many occasions.
Wolves on the Alaskan coastline have expanded their diet to marine mammals and seafood. In my own experience, I have also seen wolves dig up clams and eat seaweed. Some have even been documented to hunt sea otters successfully. This behavior is fascinating to see, showing how pack dynamics of wolves come together and break, how solitary coastal wolves have developed different hunting strategies, the survval of lone wolves or wolves on the lower order of the pack, and what this means the Alaskan coastal food web. As wolves continue to grow in population and expand, large packs must break up to find food sources to feed all members. This means that knowing how to fish is a good skill to keep the pack healthy and well fed. Hunting Marine mammals requires different strategies than hunting deer, elk, goat and moose. It requires swimming and being able to drive marine animals to places where they are trapped. In addition, wolves that are lower in the pack order or pups have a lower survival rate in early fall and learning how to hunt for slamon and marine mammals can increase their survivorship, as salmon are packed with important fats and protein. Scientsits are currently trying to understand how these increased observations and changes in their diet impact the food web, from the recovering otter populations to the salmon run.
