Sep 22 2008
What do wolves eat?
If you remember a few months ago, we answered a question on “where do wolves live.” That answer led to more questions about the life of wolves and we thought we would answer one of those questions today. If you do have more questions about wolves, feel free to email us your question or to post it here and we will try to post new answers as the questions arise.
So with that little introduction, let’s look at what wolves eat.
Before I get into the actual diet of a wolf, it is important to note that wolves are carnivores, meat is their primary food source but they have been known to eat some berries and even insects like grasshoppers or even earthworms.
Since wolves rely on fresh meat as their food supply, the actual food that they eat depends on a number of things; their environment, the prey that is available in their environment and the season. If the herd has migrated to an area where the wolves are not, the pack will find other means to feed themselves.
Wolves, like dogs, can eat several times in a day, usually every 5 hours or so but generally, food is not plentiful enough for that type of feeding behavior so wolves are able to live without food for several weeks.
When it comes to hunting, wolves hunt in packs and will often single out old, sick or young animals to attack. This is beneficial to both the pack and the herd since the animals that are weakened by age or sickness are less likely to injure a wolf and the wolves keep the herd healthy and strong by removing the diseased members.
Since wolves hunt in packs, they are able to take down large game and will often hunt deer, moose and other large game. When large game is not readily available or the pack is too small to successfully kill one, wolves will survive on mice, birds, fish and the berries and insects that I have already mentioned.
A wolf’s digestive system is very efficient and it will digest 95% of the meat swallowed. Any bone splinters or undigested food will be wrapped inside the hair the wolf swallowed and will prevent the intestines from becoming damaged as the bone passes out of the body.
Young wolves are nursed by their dam (mother) until they are old enough to eat food. When they are, adult wolves will take the food back to the den and regurgitate it for the young. As they grow, the adult wolves will begin to take pieces of the kill back to the den for the pups.
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