What is it about?
Interactions among apex carnivores require different theoretical frameworks compared to apex and mesocarnivore interactions, in large part because subordinate apex carnivores are often proficient at killing large prey themselves and thus do not rely on scavenging. Here, we show how wolf theft of cougar kills drives their interactions, but cougars have responded to a decline in their shared primary prey (elk) by shifting their diets to smaller-bodied deer which reduce their interactions with wolves.
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Photo by Thomas S. on Unsplash
Why is it important?
We demonstrate how apex carnivores with clear dominance hierarchies each exhibit distinct strategies to coexist with their main competitor. This work is important for large carnivore restoration efforts as it demonstrates how competition with other large carnivores should be evaluated alongside prey and landscape diversity.
Perspectives
Our work represents the value of conducting long-term research on wildlife populations and how years of field investigations of carnivore behaviors can lead to observations that ultimately shape the research questions and analyses. The collaborations among research projects in Yellowstone, as well as between the National Park Service and Oregon State University, further highlight the benefits of bringing together a diverse group of scientists to further our understanding of ecology.
Wesley Binder
Oregon State University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Diets, dominance hierarchies, and kleptoparasitism drive asymmetrical interactions between wolves and cougars, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, January 2026, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2511397123.
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