Quantcast

Yellowstone wolves, grizzlies and moose 'dysfunctional,' study says

A recent study warns that a proposal to remove grizzly bears and wolves living in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem from the Endangered Species List is premature, because neither species may be fully recovered. Federal officials are now moving to delist the largest carnivores of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, citing rising population levels of grizzly bears and wolves as evidence of conservation success. However, the authors of the study say that a simple increase in numbers of wolves and bears does not necessarily mean full ecological recovery. The authors looked at how these formerly absent predators are interacting with moose populations, and found that predator/prey relationships in GYE may show signs of dysfunction.