Ravens anticipate wolf kill sites across broad scales

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Source: Science Magazine

Original: https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.adz9467?af=R...

Published: 2026-03-12T06:00:03Z

Ravens predict wolf kill sites at wide spatial scales. The researchers examined 3,929 potential kill sites associated with wolves and cougars. Of these, 852 were wolf feeding events and 520 were cougar feeding events. Wolves killed 716 prey and mauled 136 times, with elk (542), bison (201) and deer (90) being their main prey. Cougars killed 513 prey and robbed only 7 times, mainly targeting elk (272) and deer (220). They used machine learning to train models from GPS data and confirmed kill sites to identify predator interactions. About 42% of wolf-cougar interactions occurred at predicted cougar kill sites, with only one occurring at a wolf kill site.[1][2]