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ysabetwordsmithGray wolves are hunting sea otters and no one knows how
On a remote Alaskan island, gray wolves are rewriting the rulebook by hunting sea otters — a behavior few scientists ever expected to see. Researchers are now uncovering how these coastal wolves adapted to marine hunting, what it means for land–sea ecosystems, and whether this ancient predator–prey relationship is re-emerging as sea otters recover.
My best guess is that the wolves prey on sea otters during brief times the otters come ashore. Maybe on ice, which can work rather like land, but there is a lot less ice now than there used to be. It's hard to image a less-marine-adapted predator catching more-marine-adapted prey actually in the water. Then again, if that's happening, it would push the otters to move into waters the wolves can't reach -- which is one way that semi-aquatic species become fully-aquatic species.
On a remote Alaskan island, gray wolves are rewriting the rulebook by hunting sea otters — a behavior few scientists ever expected to see. Researchers are now uncovering how these coastal wolves adapted to marine hunting, what it means for land–sea ecosystems, and whether this ancient predator–prey relationship is re-emerging as sea otters recover.
My best guess is that the wolves prey on sea otters during brief times the otters come ashore. Maybe on ice, which can work rather like land, but there is a lot less ice now than there used to be. It's hard to image a less-marine-adapted predator catching more-marine-adapted prey actually in the water. Then again, if that's happening, it would push the otters to move into waters the wolves can't reach -- which is one way that semi-aquatic species become fully-aquatic species.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-01-30 09:06 pm (UTC)And as my Beloved pointed out, wolves eat fish and aren't too shabby at pouncing on things in the shallows.
That said... it's still W.T.F?!
Thoughts
Date: 2026-01-30 09:19 pm (UTC)I suppose one possibility would be a pack of wolves surrounding a family of otters and hoping to catch one in the scramble, but that seems like a lot of work for a very uncertain reward.
Regardless of HOW
Date: 2026-01-31 12:03 am (UTC)- Has the wolves' food supply gone so far toward starvation that it's purely survival?
- Have the otters become so numerous that they're easier prey than rabbits, who would be pushed out in the same coastal area as a result.
- Have the small (and not so small) climate changes due to global warming created a microclimate that favors one or the other, pushing the demand for food into a new area? (Yes, a glut of otters would entice wolves to hunt more systematically, not just opportunistically.)
- What OTHER species have increased or decreased in the same area, and WHY?
- There was a link to another research article about tool-using otters, largely female. WHY hasn't someone already made the connection that I did: more wolves culling the otters will give tool-using otters an even larger edge for survival, especially if they take their food and their tool a few feet farther into the water to avoid the risky shorelines. These two items SHOULD be approached with strong awareness of the counterpart research.
- The level of mercury amassing in the wolves' bodies has potentially catastrophic effects on both reproduction and survival. WHY wasn't there more than a paragraph of speculation in the article? I can think of a dozen ways to compare wolves' mercury exposure which is NOT going to injure the animal, but there was no mention of methodology, JUST the need for more data.
-
Re: Regardless of HOW
Date: 2026-01-31 12:24 am (UTC)These are such awesome questions! Science is so exciting. :D
>> - Has the wolves' food supply gone so far toward starvation that it's purely survival? <<
Plausible.
>> - Have the otters become so numerous that they're easier prey than rabbits, who would be pushed out in the same coastal area as a result.<<
Implausible. Sea otters were nearly wiped out and have just begun to recover. However, the article did speculate that they may have finally rebounded enough for wolves to resume a prior hunting tactic that was unavailable in recent decades due to a dearth of sea otters.
>> - Have the small (and not so small) climate changes due to global warming created a microclimate that favors one or the other, pushing the demand for food into a new area? (Yes, a glut of otters would entice wolves to hunt more systematically, not just opportunistically.) <<
Also quite possible.
>> - What OTHER species have increased or decreased in the same area, and WHY? <<
Climate change is having heavier impacts closer to the poles where alterations happen faster. I would expect that many species have declined, based on other reports, while one or a few may be taking advantage of the shifts.
>> - There was a link to another research article about tool-using otters, largely female. WHY hasn't someone already made the connection that I did: more wolves culling the otters will give tool-using otters an even larger edge for survival, especially if they take their food and their tool a few feet farther into the water to avoid the risky shorelines. These two items SHOULD be approached with strong awareness of the counterpart research.<<
Absolutely true. My thought, if the wolves are hunting the shores and perhaps shallows as I suspect, is that this is the kind of thing which could push a semi-aquatic species to become fully aquatic.
But your observation regarding tool use made me imagine a wolf with a tiny spear through its face! :D Other options would include otters braining a wolf with their rocks or trapping it in a net of seaweed to drown. I think the spear would make the best story though. It readily lends itself to a situation where a scientist investigates reports of stabbed wolves, thinking this will lead to a human illeglly hunting them. But instead -- sea otters!
Feel free to prompt me for this if it appeals. "Books and Literacy" on February 3 would be a stretch, but "I am SO done with this!" on April 7 could work. Also watch the Creative Jam themes.
>> - The level of mercury amassing in the wolves' bodies has potentially catastrophic effects on both reproduction and survival. WHY wasn't there more than a paragraph of speculation in the article? I can think of a dozen ways to compare wolves' mercury exposure which is NOT going to injure the animal, but there was no mention of methodology, JUST the need for more data. <<
It probably hasn't happened yet. These things take time to set up, gain funding, do research, and report it. Mercury contamination is usually measured in marine environments, not on land -- except near mines or factories accused of contaminating the environment. And right now, funding is slashed to the point that anything new has a hard time getting started. :/
Re: Regardless of HOW
Date: 2026-01-31 01:04 am (UTC)HOWEVER.
College students are often willing to work a given number of hours in exchange for a college credit doing research directly connected to their major.
Have them:
1. Use copies of the raw data from the tool use research AND the mercury research to
- lay out geograpic maps of the data (yellow pins for mercury and green pins for tool use.
- Lay out a timeline of sightings/data collection points.
- Correlate the grids by terrain: saltwater deeper than 6', saltwater 6' down to 2' deep, shallows/shoreline, freshwater to 6' deep, freshwater deeper than 6', and "stable ground" with no permanent water features.
-Start checking the mercury data points for distance from the otter gathering points.
That way, using nothing but the EXISTING data, there's a temporal and a geographic snapshot. Then, if all of the heavy mercury exposures are among wolves who are NOT found in the areas where the otters are tagged, then the scientists already have a head start: the wolves are seeking out the otters as prey.
Using that data will give them a fulcrum point to leverage more research funding.
Yes, I suspect that wolves are developing a preference for otter meat. It's lean, (otters have no layer of blubber) BUT it's also very, very warm. That is an advantage to the wolves' digestion.
Re: Regardless of HOW
Date: 2026-01-31 01:32 am (UTC)Again, feel free to prompt me for it. Terramagne would probably be a good fit. They still have climate change, it's just not as bad as here.
Re: Regardless of HOW
Date: 2026-01-31 02:13 am (UTC)Re: Regardless of HOW
Date: 2026-01-31 02:22 am (UTC)But I suspect the leading cause is simply that you are smarter than most of them. I have this problem all the time, where it is quite common for me to know more about a topic than the professional I am trying to convince to do something. It started when I was quite small and identified termites in a house. Nobody believed me until the fuckers swarmed. And then the alleged professionals didn't want to either, despite me bringing them a bagged sample and a reference book. I was, what, maybe six at the time.
Re: Regardless of HOW
Date: 2026-01-31 03:03 am (UTC)As for the scientists-- it's about maximizing resources, and the effectiveness of their research goals given a shoestring budget. THAT is not the same kind of intelligence, really, but I could do that, too, without putting in a per-week coffee kitty.
There are ways to continue to research on even the slimmest budget. Collective computing projects, like the SETI screensaver that we were delighted to support, is only one example.
I worry that the American scientific community has learned the attitude that without the full funding from the public teat, the research isn't worth doing. Which is exactly the opposite of the best scientific attitudes: do what you can with what you have. It will be slower, but it won't be useless.
Re: Regardless of HOW
Date: 2026-01-31 03:16 am (UTC)Yeah, me too. In person, the possible matches are just spread way to thin for me to have much success.
>> There are ways to continue to research on even the slimmest budget. Collective computing projects, like the SETI screensaver that we were delighted to support, is only one example.<<
That is a good example.
>>I worry that the American scientific community has learned the attitude that without the full funding from the public teat, the research isn't worth doing. Which is exactly the opposite of the best scientific attitudes: do what you can with what you have. It will be slower, but it won't be useless.<<
Likely so. But it's not just about money, it's also about credibility. Scientists who wish to research things their collegues want to ignore usually wind up getting cut out of the field. In a society where life is a paid privilege, people get very attached to keeping their job at all costs, even if it damages the field as a whole.
Re: Regardless of HOW
Date: 2026-01-31 06:49 am (UTC)Where did the scientific method go?
Where's the integrity?
Now? NOW I feel OLD.
Re: Regardless of HOW
Date: 2026-01-31 07:44 am (UTC)Yeah, about a third of scientific studies get disqualified from aggregate studies, often for flaws in methodology.
>> Where did the scientific method go? <<
*sigh* To the bank.
>> Where's the integrity? <<
Few people in any profession seem to have that anymore. It's a general trend of society creating structures that dissipate responsibility too much.
>> Now? NOW I feel OLD.<<
Sorry about that.
Re: Regardless of HOW
Date: 2026-01-31 09:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-01-31 07:01 am (UTC)Hmm ...
Date: 2026-01-31 07:22 am (UTC)... I'm imagining a tiny little war here, with wolves trying to build things to attract otters, and the otters building weapons. Or perhaps armor.
Re: Hmm ...
Date: 2026-01-31 10:07 am (UTC)Wolves could coordinate an attack that drives them toward the shore, and o a lot of damage to the collective, even if they don't collect more than they usually do while hunting rabbits.
Otters use rocks as tools, and store them in a fold of skin under their front arms. Can they make the leap from "this is a good portable striking surface" --because they bring the clam down on the rock, not the other way around-- to the idea "throwing this striking surface at a wolf will hurt them"?
If the otters can do that, your war is o.v.e.r. Over.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-01-31 10:12 am (UTC)I'm now imagining a subspecies of grey wolves becoming semi-aquatic, if the otters don't become fully aquatic in the meantime.
Yes ...
Date: 2026-01-31 10:22 am (UTC)Come to think of it, the ancestor of whales was a wolfish shorehunter.