ANNUAL REPORT ON VITAL SIGNS MONITORING OF DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF WOLVES IN DENALI NATIONAL PARK & PRESERVE
Meier TJ. 2005. ANNUAL REPORT ON VITAL SIGNS MONITORING OF DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF WOLVES IN DENALI NATIONAL PARK & PRESERVE. National Park Service. Denali Park, AK
Wolves have been monitored with the use of radio collars in Denali National Park and Preserve since 1986 (Mech et al., 1998). During 1995, 15 wolf packs that lived within or partly within the park/preserve boundaries were monitored with radio collars. A total of 30 different wolves were monitored for part or all of 2005. Twelve wolves were captured and radio-collared during the year. Of eight collared wolves that died in 2005, three were legally killed by humans outside of the park/preserve boundaries (two shot, one snared). The estimate of wolf density in March 2005 was 4.51 wolves per 1000 square kilometers, near the low end of the range of wolf densities (3.1 to 7.8 wolves per 1000 square kilometers) observed in late winter during the last 19 years in Denali. The relatively low wolf density is likely the result of low numbers of available prey, following declines in the size of the Denali caribou herd and a series of mild winters that made ungulates less vulnerable to predation.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Meier, Thomas
- Date of Issue
- 2005
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- CAKN , DENA
- Keywords
- Abundance, Alaska, Canis lupus, Denali, Distribution, Monitoring, Population, Wolf, Wolves
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Mammals