What Do Wolves Eat? Wolf Diet, Prey and Pack Hunting

What do wolves mainly eat?

The gray wolf is built to hunt animals much larger than itself. Biologists call these large hoofed mammals ungulates. Hunting together in a pack, wolves can bring down prey several times their own weight, such as a moose of 400 kg (880 lb) or more.

Which animal a pack hunts depends mostly on what is common where it lives:

In North America, elk, moose, caribou, white-tailed deer and mule deer are the most important prey across the wolf’s range. In Europe and Asia, wolves rely mostly on moose, red deer, roe deer and wild boar.

What else do wolves eat?

Large prey is not always available, especially in summer, when deer and elk are spread out and healthy. Then wolves eat a wider range of food:

• Smaller mammals. Beavers are an important summer food in many northern forests. Wolves also catch hares, rabbits, marmots, voles and other rodents.
• Birds and eggs. Wolves take waterfowl and their eggs and other ground-nesting birds.
• Fish and seafood. Some coastal wolves in British Columbia and Alaska catch salmon and eat seals and other marine food.
• Carrion. Wolves readily scavenge carcasses, including animals killed by winter, disease or other predators.
• Plants. In summer they eat berries, and in Europe they have been recorded eating fruit such as apples, pears and figs. They also chew grass.

Where people live close to wolves, livestock and garbage can become part of the diet. In much of North America livestock are only a small share of what wolves eat, but in some parts of southern Europe and Asia, where wild prey has been reduced, sheep, goats and even food waste can be very important.

How do wolves hunt?

Wolves are endurance hunters, not ambush predators. A pack travels an average of about 25 km (16 mi) a day searching for prey, usually at a steady trot. When they find a herd, they test it: they run toward the animals and watch how they react, looking for one that is young, old, sick, injured or slowed by deep snow.

Once a target is chosen, the wolves chase it, biting at its flanks and hindquarters to slow it down until it can be brought down. Chases can be short sprints at about 50–60 km/h (31–37 mph) or long pursuits over several kilometers.

Most hunts fail. In a classic study on Isle Royale in Lake Superior, wolves killed only 6 of 131 moose that they were seen to test. Healthy adult moose, elk and bison often stand their ground or outrun wolves, and they can kick hard enough to break a wolf’s jaw or ribs. Wolves are regularly injured or killed by their prey.

How much does a wolf eat?

Wolves live a life of feast and famine. After a kill, each wolf can eat up to about 9 kg (20 lb) of meat at one sitting, starting with the most nutritious organs, such as the heart, liver and lungs. Wolves digest quickly and may feed several times on the same carcass over a day or two.

Then they may go several days, sometimes more than a week, without another successful hunt. Over a year, an adult wolf needs on average a few kilograms of meat per day, with more needed in winter and when raising pups. Wolves can survive long periods of hunger and quickly recover when they make a kill.

Wolves also carry food home. Adults returning to the den bring meat back in their stomachs and bring it up for the pups, and every adult in the pack helps. To understand how the family works together, see how many wolves are in a pack?

Who shares a wolf’s meal?

A wolf kill feeds a whole community. Ravens often arrive within minutes and follow wolves through the day. Bald and golden eagles, magpies, coyotes, red foxes, wolverines and bears all scavenge wolf kills. Grizzly bears often take over carcasses from wolves, while wolf packs usually defend their dens from bears.

Because wolves leave food behind through the winter, scientists in places such as Yellowstone see them as an important source of food for many scavengers in the cold months.

Wolves vs other wild dogs: what’s on the menu?

Wolves are the most specialized big-game hunters in the dog family. The smaller coyote eats mainly rodents, rabbits, fruit, insects and carrion and only occasionally takes deer, usually fawns. For a full comparison, see wolf vs coyote.

Myths and facts about what wolves eat

• Myth: wolves kill only the weak. Fact: wolves often take young, old or sick animals because they are easier to catch, but they also kill healthy adults, especially in deep snow.
• Myth: wolves kill for sport. Fact: wolves sometimes kill more than they can eat at once, mostly penned sheep or deer stuck in deep snow, but they usually return to feed on the carcasses when they can.
• Myth: wolves need to eat every day. Fact: wolves are adapted to irregular meals and can go days without eating.
• Myth: wolves often hunt people. Fact: attacks on people are very rare; see are wolves dangerous?