How Wolves Change Rivers*

I don’t think human beings are so lazy they can’t spit out water melon seeds.

I think bio engineers believe taking the reproduction system (the seeds) away from the plant will cause people to buy more watermelons.

I wonder if it worked.

Seedless fruits are handy for humans, but to put a plant at the mercy of a human to propagate their specie boggles my mind. And it is just plain stupid.

But here, look at this, wolves, introduced by people, restored an ecosystem.

For 70 years wolves were absent from Yellowstone park. The land was virtually desiccated by the grazing animals. (And you know what happens when a food source goes away—pain, suffering and death.)

In 1995 wolves were introduced into the park and this small band of wolves changed the ecosystem.

The wolves reduced some of the grazing animals, but that wasn’t the biggest thing.

The remarkable thing was it changed the behavior of the grazing animals.

The grazing animals began avoiding certain parts of the park, mainly the gorges and valleys thus allowing trees to flourish there. Birds increased. Beavers moved in and made niches for other animals. The beaver dams made homes for animals such as weasels and foxes.

The wolves killed some of the coyotes, thus rabbits and mice increased bringing with them food for the wolves and hawks.

Bears came into the area because there were more berries.

And the wolves changed the river.

The regenerating forest stabilized the banks of the river so it stayed in its course. More pools and channels appeared. Erosion was minimized.

 If a small pack of wolves can change a river, think of what a small pack of humans can do.

Remember, it was a small pack of humans that introduced the wolves.

To the unsung heroes of the earth!

Love,

Joyce

P.S. The wolf picture at the top of the page is a painting not a photograph. Wow.

*YouTube “How wolves change rivers.”