Roe deer winter observations regarding grouping and territoriality

As I have been observing roe deer during winter, several questions have been raised in my mind concerning the group formation (including group stability and structure) and winter territoriality between groups. It is thought that winter territoriality perhaps does not really exist in roe deer but I there must be some degree of exclusion due …

Natural landscape elements to deter wolves as clear boundaries to announce risky zones

There are many workable methods that have been applied in order to prevent human-wildlife conflict including wolf-livestock conflict (see, e.g., 'A Ranchers Guide to Coexistence Among Livestock, People, and Wolves' by Parr, S. et al., 2017). However, some (but not all) of these tools can be costly and inaccessible to people who live in relative …

Do beavers dislike loud sounds very near to them?

There are very few scientific materials dedicated to beaver vocalizations and beaver sound perception. Mostly it is assumed that beavers (apart from tail-slapping) are quiet animals (e.g., Novakowski, N.S., 1969) and that most vocalizations occur in close quarters between the beavers and are rather soft. This makes sense because beavers have 'busy mouths' and spend …

Regarding scavenging trade-offs and possible similarities in habitat/prey use between scavengers and their commensal predators

Time allocation is important in species' survival strategies. For example, many species have to consider trade-offs between foraging and vigilance or foraging and reproductive activities. Both trade-offs are observed, e.g., in deer species. However, scavengers also have to allocate time to tracking their commensal predators and this might impose a trade-off on their other feeding …

Dispersal in wolves – habitat use during migration

Many research publications have been dedicated to dispersal in grey wolves that are some of the nature's most spectacular dispersers (with respect to distances, overcoming of obstacles, methods used, e.g., swimming rivers, swimming seas, travelling across ice bridges, conquering mountain ranges etc.). A decent review of many of these dispersal studies (including references) can be …

Research Studies for the Guiding of Wolf-Policies

In this article the most essential scientific findings have been compiled that anybody (including national and global citizens) involved in wolf management policy making should be familiar with. The publication titles will be supplemented with brief outlines of the essential discoveries and some explanations provided in the studies or added by the author of this …

Age structure effects in harvested wolf populations – indicator of additive impact?

The following text is a response to the research publication 'Fluctuations in age structure and their variable influence on population growth' (Hoy, S.R. et al., 2019). The study states that in the (almost) natural YNP ecosystem no significant influences on wolf population age variability were detected that would considerably skew the population age structure from …

Bear-human conflicts – due to habitat homogeneity?

As with many large predators, concerns are raised when bears approach human settlements. Some studies suggest that some bears are likelier to exhibit such behaviour than others (e.g., Berezowska-Cnota, T. et al., 2023) Meanwhile, it is not clear whether these patterns are driven by individual traits (intrinsic factors) or environmental conditions (external factors) (e.g., Bombieri, …