They are known for being fierce hunters, but what do wolves eat?
People that have lived near wolves have reported seeing them devour a variety of things beyond the typical prey.
As a matter of fact, there is a large amount of diversity in terms of what wolves can and will consume.
What Wolves Eat
Wolves typically hunt medium to large-sized mammals, like moose, elk, deer, caribou, and bison.
They are not picky eaters; they will eat whatever is available to them.
You can add fish, birds, fruit, and vegetables to a wolf’s diet in some cases.
Generally speaking, the prey of wolves weighs over 50 pounds (the smaller ones aren’t worth eating).
Moose who live near rivers like to swim out into the water to eat aquatic plants.
Wolves will swim out after them and kill the moose by biting into their throats or attacking their legs.
They don’t only eat the parts of the animal that are easy to access; they also drag it onto land and cover it with dirt to protect it from other predators (and scavengers).
What Do Wolves Eat When Food is Scarce?
Smaller animals can also be eaten when food is scarce.
If a deer is dying of disease or old age, the wolves that come across it will eat it without hesitation.
Wolves even eat roadkill if that’s all there is to eat.
Sometimes wolves don’t have to go out and look for their prey; they will instead wait in one place and ambush their prey as it walks by.
Some wolves will eat other wolves when they can catch them (although this is not common).
Wolves who live near the ocean eat seaweed.
They either just eat it off the rocks, or they will follow a dead seal that has been washed up onshore and eat whatever is left of it after all the seagulls have gotten to it.
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