Northern Yellowstone elk population appears stable bozemandailychronicle/news/wildlife/article_2992890c-c42d-11e3-a793-0019bb2963f4.html Please read the above article for details. While most elk herds in the Northern Rockies have been doing very well, one of a few herds that has been in decline is the Northern Yellowstone herd. Yellowstones ecosystem has benefited greatly by the decline of a once unnaturally over-sized elk herd. But this drop in elk has not been welcomed by elk hunters that hunt this particular herd. When reintroducing an apex predator (the gray wolf) to an ecosystem it has been absent from for many decades, striking a new balance between predator and prey takes some time. The Yellowstone wolf population peaked around 2004/2005 at around 174 wolves. It is less than half that now. Having possibly exceeded the parks carrying capacity, the wolf population in Yellowstone has been declining since, with pressure from wolf hunting outside the park adding to the decline. Many variables are at play but it is likely that numbers of both predator and prey are reaching more sustainable levels than when they peaked.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 14:45:00 +0000