{"id":310825,"date":"2025-11-24T12:54:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T12:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/310825\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T12:54:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T12:54:13","slug":"researchers-say-wolves-are-smart-enough-to-use-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/310825\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers Say Wolves Are Smart Enough To Use Tools"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wolves have been stealing bait from underwater crab traps in British Columbia, Canada, which some\u00a0researchers\u00a0claim amounts to the predators’ \u201ctool use.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some Rocky Mountain wolf experts say it\u2019s notable behavior, but a stretch to call it that.<\/p>\n

Bait started to go missing from crab traps along the central coast of British Columbia in 2023. So remote cameras were set up.<\/p>\n

One camera captured video of a female wolf swimming into the water to retrieve a crab trap line buoy. Once back on shore, she pulled the line to retrieve the trap, then gobbled up the bait that was in the trap.<\/p>\n

In an article recently published in\u00a0Science<\/a>, some researchers touted that as proof that wolves\u2019 intelligence is rising to the level of \u201ctool use.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolf expert Rick McIntyre told Cowboy State Daily that\u2019s not quite what he saw in the video.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t quite get\u00a0why\u00a0they\u2019re calling it tool use,\u201d he said. \u201cThe only thing the wolf did was pull on the rope to drag in the bait.”<\/p>\n

McIntyre was a naturalist ranger and wolf behavior interpreter in Yellowstone National Park, and worked with the Yellowstone Wolf project from 1998 to 2018.<\/p>\n

He also observed wolves in Glacier National Park in Montana and Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska.<\/p>\n

Still A Smart Move<\/p>\n

While the wolf stealing crab bait might not qualify as tool use, it was a clever move and speaks to the intelligence of the species, McIntyre said.<\/p>\n

The most compelling part is that the wolf knew there was a food reward there, even though it was underwater, so she couldn\u2019t see it, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to wonder, what was the sequence of events that led to that, over time?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou (the wolf) are smart enough to understand that even though you can\u2019t see the reward, you\u2019re going to get it if you pull on the rope,\u201d McIntyre said.<\/p>\n

Retired federal trapper Carter Niemeyer\u00a0told Cowboy State Daily said he was impressed by the cleverness of the wolf in the video, but also wasn\u2019t ready to label it as tool use.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never\u00a0thought\u00a0of wolves as using tools,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And a \u201csample size of one (wolf)\u201d from a video isn\u2019t enough to establish a\u00a0pattern\u00a0of alleged tool use in the species, he added.<\/p>\n

Wolves\u2019 success in the wild often boils down to their natural gifts, said Niemeyer, who used to kill wolves as a wildlife agent, but has since become an advocate for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI give them credit for having acute senses. They\u2019ve got good eyesight, good noses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"ResearchersResearchers claim that wolves pulling on lines to steal bait from underwater crab traps is proof that they\u2019re \u201cusing tools.\u201d But some wolf experts dispute that idea. (Science Magazine via Facebook)A \u2018Psychopath\u2019 Wolf<\/p>\n

McIntyre said there have been some legitimate examples of tool use among wild animals. <\/p>\n

For example, legendary primatologist\u00a0Jane Goodall<\/a>\u00a0documented chimpanzees using sticks to catch and eat insects, he said.<\/p>\n

While the wolf retrieving crab bait probably doesn\u2019t rise to that level, wolves are remarkably intelligent in the social sense, he said.<\/p>\n

As an example, he recalled watching an interesting interaction between a male, Wolf 21, and his adopted father, Wolf 8, in Yellowstone years ago.<\/p>\n

Wolf 8 helped\u00a0raise Wolf 21,\u00a0but when\u00a0the latter wolf reached adulthood, they were the leaders of two separate, rival packs.<\/p>\n

Wolf 21\u2019s pack included an alpha female, Wolf 40.<\/p>\n

\u201cWolf 40 was, in human terms, a psychopath. She was killing pups born into her own family, born to her sister, so that her pups could have more protection and more food,\u201d McIntyre said.<\/p>\n

One day, the two packs had squared off, and a fight seemed imminent, he said.<\/p>\n

Wolf 21 probably didn\u2019t want to seriously hurt\u00a0or\u00a0kill Wolf 8.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he knew if he took it easy on Wolf 8, maybe pinned him and nipped his ears, then Wolf 40 would come in behind him and kill Wolf 8,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, 21 was in an impossible social situation,\u201d McIntyre said.<\/p>\n

At the last second, Wolf 21 \u201cacted like he was afraid to fight,\u201d and started running around.<\/p>\n

That resulted in a \u201cmelee of wolves running around\u201d but none of them being seriously injured, he said.<\/p>\n

Apparently, Wolf 21 had displayed enough intelligence to\u00a0defuse\u00a0a potentially explosive social situation, he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018They Learn Quickly\u2019<\/p>\n

When wolves are being trapped, even live-trapped for research, they\u2019re clever enough to figure out threats, Niemeyer\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey learn quickly. If you mess up, or they get a hint that you\u2019re out to catch them, or hurt them, they quickly go into avoidance mode,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A trapper might have to change methods or just leave the wolves in that area alone for a while, Niemeyer\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGive it a rest, wait a few weeks or a month. And then when you come back, they\u2019ve lowered their guard a little bit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As for the wolf snatching underwater crab bait, Niemeyer said it\u2019s evidence that wolves learn through persistence, particularly if there\u2019s a payoff involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWolves pick up on life experiences. And this wolf found a method that worked for getting food,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wolves have been stealing bait from underwater crab traps in British Columbia, Canada, which some\u00a0researchers\u00a0claim amounts to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-310825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}