Wolf (Canis lupus) feeding habits during the first eight years of its occurrence in Germany

Abstract

a b s t r a c tDue to the fact that the feeding habits of large carnivores are the main contentious point when they start resettling regions they were absent from for several decades, the diet composition of the wolves in Germany was analysed from the beginning of this process. Wolves in Germany primarily feed on wild ungulates, which make up more than 96% of their diet. The dominating prey species is the roe deer (55.3%), followed by red deer (20.8%) and wild boar (17.7%). The second important food category are the leporids (2.9% of Biomass), whereas livestock makes up only 0.6% of all biomass consumed. Wolves clearly prefer hunting on juvenile to adult red deer; roe deer are not selected after their age. We found seasonal differences in the diet composition with a higher amount of wild boar in spring and winter, when a high amount of juveniles and weakened animals, respectively, are available. In the first years of the study the percentage of red deer was much higher, and the percentage of roe deer therefore was lower than the following years. The amount of wild boar in the wolf diet fluctuated most in the first three years. Diet composition remained constant during the last five years. Wolves needed less than two generations for adapting to the new conditions in the cultivated landscape of eastern Germany.

Prey Selection of Scandinavian Wolves: Single Large or Several Small?

“…Roe deer, red deer and fallow deer were generally avoided and there was no dietary response to changes in prey density of either primary or secondary prey species. Other studies in Europe [69, 70, 71] support the results from our study, i.e., that when roe deer are available at sufficiently high densities, they usually constitute a major part of the prey and sometimes become the preferred prey species of wolves. However, the prey community characteristics in Scandinavia are different from those of central and southern Europe where large ungulates like moose are not present.…”

Military training areas facilitate the recolonization of wolves in Germany

“…Differences in habitat type or road densities thus cannot explain the preference of MTAs. Because densities of wild ungulates, the main prey of wolves in Germany (Wagner, Holzapfel, Kluth, Reinhardt, & Ansorge, ), are high in all areas settled by wolves to date (Reinhardt & Kluth, ), it is also implausible that different prey densities could serve as an explanation. Overall, it is unlikely that habitat suitability alone was the primary driver for the strong initial selection for MTAs by wolves. The preference for MTAs may be partly explained with natal habitat preference.…”

How Many Wolves (Canis lupus) Fit into Germany? The Role of Assumptions in Predictive Rule-Based Habitat Models for Habitat Generalists

“…Wolf diet strongly depends on the availability of prey species [70]. In Europe [71], [72], [73], as well as in North America [74], [75], [76], the preferred prey species are large wild ungulates.…”

“…Although this is a standard method, there are numerous factors influencing hunting success and thus the size of the hunting bag [79]. Secondly, recent studies have shown no negative influence on the hunting bag for wild ungulates in hunting districts in the Lausitz, where wolves have lived for the past 8 years [70]. Ungulate densities, especially for roe deer and wild boar, have increased during the last 50 years in Germany [79], [80].…”