The Sea Wolves by Ian McAllister

Author:Ian McAllister
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JNF003100, JNF037020, JNF051100
ISBN: 978-1-4598-0589-7
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2013-06-30T16:00:00+00:00

The ocean can turn up all sorts of meals for a wild wolf—everything from barnacles to sea lions. Rainforest wolves don’t have a hope of catching a seal or sea lion at sea, but on land it’s a different story.

The sea can also be generous. For an island wolf growing up with the sound of surf in his ears, there is more than just deer meat in nature’s larder. There are also shore- and seabirds that flock to intertidal areas to gather food and fish. Birds like cranes, geese and herons also make good use of islands, building nests on them and raising their young. Any of them can make a tasty meal for a wolf.

And while a land animal like a wolf couldn’t possibly hope to catch a seal at sea, it’s a different story on land. Sometimes seals like to haul themselves out of the ocean to rest and sleep. And as they sleep, the tide goes out, separating them farther and farther from the water’s edge. Uh-oh. This is what wolves wait for. Have you ever seen a seal move around on land? If you have, you’ll know that they’re not nearly as fast on land as they are in water, and that’s good news for a wolf. Usually a wolf will manage to take the seal by surprise. The interesting and unfair part of all this is that one of the reasons seals rest on rocks is to avoid orcas, or killer whales, coincidentally known as “wolves of the sea.” Yet another example of how “red in tooth and claw” nature can be.

Of course, with so much water around, there are fish too. Island wolves don’t plunge into the waves after fish the way seals or seabirds do, but given the strong ocean currents and crashing surf that roars in from the Pacific, there’s no telling when a fish, whale or seal might wash up on shore. And when it does, wolves devour it. There are also all the creatures of the intertidal zone—the crabs, clams, mussels and barnacles that live on and under the shoreline rocks and sand. Individually they’re not much more than an hors d’oeuvre for an animal the size of a wolf. But when there are enough of them, they become a meal. Not only that; small animals like these can be hunting starter kits for pups. The pups can chase them and sharpen their teeth and claws on animals they know won’t fight back. There are not many places in the world that provide newly born wolves the same kind of opportunity for a successful hunt—even if the quarry is only a small crab or a barnacle.

WOLF BITES

Birds in the Great Bear Rainforest.

There are migratory birds that fly north in the summer and south in the winter, and there are resident birds that live on the coast all year long. Gulls, herons, geese and bald eagles are some of the year-round residents, while sandpipers, ospreys, sandhill cranes and hummingbirds visit the rainforest to nest and raise their young in the summer before heading south again.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.