What Do Wolves Eat

North American Gray Wolf Diet

What do wolves eat?

While the wolf diet primarily consists of the meat of grazing animals, they will resort to eating smaller rodents and some berries.

Contrary to popular belief, wolves are not skilled predators.

While they are highly intelligent and hunt in packs, they must isolate weak and young members from the herd and chase them down.

This practice does great things for the population and habitat of their prey.

By trimming away the weak and young, only the best procreate, which limits herd sizes and allows environments such as wetlands and grasslands to thrive with additional species.

North American Gray Wolves primarily eat:

A North American Gray Wolf
Photo by: Tambako

Moose

Deer

Musk-oxen

Beaver

Bison

Caribou

What Do Wolf Puppies Eat

Wolf pups rely on older, stronger members of the pack to either regurgitate previously eaten food, or to bring meat back to the den.

Wolf puppies will hone their hunting skills by killing small rodents. Occasionally they will eat these creatures, but only in hard times.

While wolves can eat every five hours, they can last upwards of 14 days before requiring meat.

What Do Wolves Eat - Body Parts & Digestion

Wolves devour their prey quickly in order to avoid losing it to larger predators, such as grizzly bears. The alpha male will be given the best part, followed by the female, and it progresses down the hierarchy.

If they are fearful of predators, wolves will haul food back to the den or hide it in the snow from scavengers.

With the exception of major bones, wolves will consume every part they can of their prey (typically all but 5% of available meat).

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