Arctic wolves caught on tape displaying new hunting behavior
Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com
January 31, 2008
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The BBC Natural History unit has captured footage of the Artic wolf swimming for its meal. The camera crew were filming a documentary entitled White Falcon, White Wolf on Ellesmere Island, a part of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, when they spotted this never-before-seen behavior.
In the footage several Artic wolves enter a small body of water in an attempt to catch fowl. The wolves swim around a group of Snow Geese with one eventually snatching a large gosling out of the water.
This is the first known instance of wolves hunting waterfowl. Usually, these pack animals prey on large herbivores, like Caribou, elk, moose, and deer.
White Falcon, White Wolf will air in Britain on BBC Two on Friday 1 February at 2000 GMT and Sunday 3 February at 1755 GMT. For the rest of us, some of the footage—including the Arctic wolves hunting the geese—can be seen on the BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7213731.stm.