March 2012. Scientists at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Görlitz, Germany, have been investigating the feeding habits of wolves in the last eight years since their re-appearance in Germany. The results are reassuring: The proportion of livestock on the menu lies at less than one per cent.
Wolves had been extinct in Germany for a long time, but now they are slowly returning to some of their former range. However not everyone is happy at the return of this wild animal. The feeding habits of Canis lupus are the subject of many legends and fables: Wolves that tear sheep apart, eat household pets and even attack people - the return of the predators to Germany has sparked conflict amongst its inhabitants, conservationists, hunters and farmers.
Detailed sudy of wolf scat
"The dietary habits of wolves has been the greatest point of contention with their return to Germany and it induced us to examine in closer detail the feeding habits of the wolves that migrated to Lusatia over ten years ago", explains Hermann Ansorge, head of the Zoology Department at the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History in Görlitz. "We took a look at what was on the menu for the wolves and how this has changed since the appearance of wolves in East Germany."
For this purpose the scientists collected over 3000 samples of wolf scat and tested them for undigested evidence of the animals' prey, such as hair, bones, hooves or teeth.
Detailed sudy of wolf scat
"The dietary habits of wolves has been the greatest point of contention with their return to Germany and it induced us to examine in closer detail the feeding habits of the wolves that migrated to Lusatia over ten years ago", explains Hermann Ansorge, head of the Zoology Department at the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History in Görlitz. "We took a look at what was on the menu for the wolves and how this has changed since the appearance of wolves in East Germany."
For this purpose the scientists collected over 3000 samples of wolf scat and tested them for undigested evidence of the animals' prey, such as hair, bones, hooves or teeth.
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