Prey size plays role with predators
New research from the University of Minnesota upends long-held understanding about how wolves, bears and cougars—three of Yellowstone National Park’s most iconic carnivores—compete for prey.
For years, scientists theorized that when prey becomes scarce, predators become more aggressive toward each other. It’s a straightforward theory: fewer resources and more competition suggest that dominant predators like wolves and bears—will steal food from subordinate predators—like cougars.
New findings, published in Communications Biology, reveal the size of prey animals plays a surprisingly pivotal role in competition patterns among predators. The study is based on over two decades of data collected from a team of ecologists studying cougar predation in Yellowstone National Park.
PHOTO: Two gray wolves (Photo: iStock – LeFion)
