Wildlife

Watch a wolf and a wolverine fight over food in Denali National Park

A wolf and a wolverine spar over food in a video released by Denali National Park and Preserve last week.

The video was captured on a motion sensor game camera on Feb. 9, said Bridget Borg, wildlife biologist with Denali National Park.

Borg said the camera was placed near a moose carcass in the Savage River area of the park, where it was left for the winter until being retrieved last week.

"We were just amazed when we started looking at the videos," Borg said.

The game camera caught interactions between a wolf and a wolverine that are both vying to feed on the moose carcass. The wolverine can be heard vocalizing as the two scuffle.

Seeing an interspecies interaction at a feeding site is rare, Borg said — the park has deployed game cameras to more than 30 other sites, and biologists had not yet seen two different species in one shot.

"Catching that is really pretty unique," Borg said. "We'll see multiple species feeding at one carcass, but not at the same time."

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The camera also caught interactions between other species, like a wolf and fox, Borg said, and more visits from birds than researchers had seen before.

Denali National Park uses Reconyx brand game cameras to withstand cold winter weather, Borg said. She said the use of the cameras is "a cool example (of what) new types of technology can show, in a non-invasive way, about animals."

Laurel Andrews

Laurel Andrews was a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch News and Alaska Dispatch. She left the ADN in October 2018.

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