Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Wolves are Underappreciated

Wolves are a crucial part of the wilderness life-cycle and in this amazing You Tube video, you can see what impact removing and then re-instating wolves had in Yellowstone Park.

My childhood picture of wolves was Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs, and in some of the Russian fairy tales I heard when I was little--wolves were frightening creatures who carried away and ate little children and disappeared into dark woods.

I hope that you can access this video to see what happens when there is a balance in nature and what happens when that balance is disrupted.



How Wolves Change Rivers


Thank you to "Sustainable Man" and others who made this video.

11 comments:

  1. Isn't that an absolutely fascinating piece of film? From a British TV program by the sound of it!
    Going off at a bit of a tangent, the narrator mentioned that, among other things, Aspens had recolonised parts of Yellowstone. Well, Aspens are a relatively short-lived species that are renowned for being the first species to move into an empty space, say, after a forest fire or something like that.
    Thanks for posting that wonderful film Natasha!
    Listening to The Boswell Sisters from the 1930s.
    CLICK HERE for Bazza’s fabulous Blog ‘To Discover Ice’

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    1. I see photographs of Yellowstone and the outdoor girl comes out in me and my earlier fantasies of living on a ranch with dogs and horses and beautiful views are remembered. We do have beautiful views here and a horse farm across the street, but no dogs or dog, sadly. Aspens are interesting and we have one on our property which send out little shoots all over the yard. They don't do well here, even at 6200 feet, higher is better. Aspens are the first, though after a fire. I am off to hear the Boswell Sisters on my IPhone. Thanks again for calling me Natasha. I miss that.

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  2. I don't like hearing about the helicopter hunting of wolves either. Give nature a chance. All species can live together, if MAN could just get that through his head. (Man = humans, but mostly male) A sheep farmer of cattle farmer might think differently, though.

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  3. The sheep and cattle can suffer if wolves are too near and of course the wolves don't know anything about state lines. I thought it was interesting how the wolves caused the deer and elk to modify their behavior, which caused, which then caused. . . .Thanks, DG.

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  4. What a spectacular view of how nature cascades to benefit one population and on to another. Loved this.

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    1. I learned so much from this video and now if I ever see Yellowstone again, I will have even more appreciation of that beautiful place. Thanks, Susan.

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  5. Fantastic piece of film. I have been a proponent of wolves for many years, they are wonderful creatures. However, I had no idea they did so much good. I am going to steal this video and post it in my Thursday blog.

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  6. Very pleased you will use this. Thanks, Jo.

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  7. Hi Nat - it is amazing how life needs all other life ... be it insects, plants, animals and birds ... this is a great example of how essential all life is ...

    Loved it and thanks so much for highlighting this video - cheers Hilary

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  8. Hello there. This just goes to show that the earth, when given the opportunity to renew itself, can sustain a vast variety of life...just as it was created to do (Genesis 1:1-31). Thanks for sharing. Visiting from the A-Z Road Trip!

    Entrepreneurial Goddess

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    1. I did not go "on the road" this year, but thank you for visiting while on your travels. "All creatures great and small,. . . and the Lord God made them all."

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