But the ravens<\/a> weren\u2019t doing what they had expected. Instead, they were visiting different locations where wolf kills were common, such as flat valley bottoms. Lead researcher Matthias Loretto compares their strategy to like going round a number of supermarkets in the search for a particular item of food.<\/p>\n He says it was already known that ravens remember reliable sources of food such as landfills, but this study shows they can do more than that.<\/p>\n \u201cA single kill is unpredictable but over time, some parts of the landscape are more productive than others \u2013\u00a0and ravens appear to use that pattern to their advantage,\u201d Loretto continues.<\/p>\n \u201cAt first, we were puzzled,\u201d says Loretto, before realising that ravens do not usually follow wolves but instead visit sites where wolf kills are common. This footage shows the birds interacting with wolves and feeding on a carcass. Credit: Bob Landis\/Ravens in Yellowstone<\/p>\n It\u2019s still not completely clear how ravens decide to visit a particular area. One raven, Loretto explains, had spent a week at a large landfill site before flying 155km to an area where wolves regularly make their kills.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do not understand what makes them stay or leave \u2013\u00a0perhaps social factors such as integration into a local group,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd then why it suddenly decided to go looking for a wolf kill \u2013\u00a0maybe [the need for] higher quality food.\u201d<\/p>\n Once in an area where they know wolves make kills, then they will listen out for them howling<\/a> or even other vocal scavengers<\/a>. Non-breeding ravens have a particular call they make when they can see food that they cannot yet access because it is being monopolised by wolves or larger birds such as golden eagles<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ravens have been the subject of numerous studies showing their intelligence and problem-solving abilities. They are highly social birds that can remember who\u2019s who within a particular group and can strategically intervene in conflicts in support of allies. This latest study, published in\u00a0Science<\/a>, provides further proof of their sophisticated, adaptable brains.<\/p>\n Footage shows researchers tracking and observing ravens in Yellowstone. Credit: Martin Schilt\/Crows \u2013 Nature is Watching Us<\/p>\n Top image: ravens flying over wolves. Credit: Daniel Stahler<\/p>\n More wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Yellowstone National Park in the USA, ravens are strongly associated with wolf kills. For many years, it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":["post-326690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Wolf](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Wolves-and-birds-in-Yellowstone-scaled.jpeg\")
A wolf chases magpies and ravens from an elk carcass near Soda Butte in Yellowstone. Credit: Jim Peaco\/NPS<\/p>\n