BACKGROUND: "Today's special at the Wolf's Nest is..."
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By Tapio Mainio
Nearly 80 wolves have thus far been fitted with research collars containing an antenna that picks up a GPS signal.
The tracker or “pusher” sends back data on the whereabouts of the animal to a remote server, and can be programmed to record the wolf’s precise position at varying intervals as necessary.
The onboard battery lasts around a year.
Such collars are now being worn by two wolves in Kainuu and another pair of animals in Finnish Karelia.
One of the Kainuu wolves has been followed intently practically all summer.
Five men have been engaged on tracking its faeces and the carcasses of the animals it has breakfasted or dined upon.
In the space of two months, this male wolf has been responsible for the demise of 13 reindeer calves, one adult reindeer, 12 European elk (Am. Moose, Alces alces), 10 elk calves, and a wild Finnish forest reindeer (Rangifer tarandus fennicus).
The male has not eaten this feast alone, but has shared the largesse with a female and her pups, and with a year-old pup, who has been acting as a child-minder in the nest.
The wolves have in any case seldom if ever been able to enjoy the entire meal without disturbance, as bears have got wind of the carrion and broken up the dinner-party.
This winter, a similar intensive monitoring programme will be in effect for one of the Karelian wolves, in order to determine from tracks in the snow exactly how the prey has behaved before ending up on the wolf’s menu.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 17.8.2008
More on this subject:
 Genetic data indicate that wolves no longer migrating from Russia
Wolf-collar heads for Haparanda and Sweden
TAPIO MAINIO / Helsingin Sanomat
tapio.mainio@hs.fi
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