The Wolves are Helping the Yellowstone Ecosystem

Wolves once played a major role in the Yellowstone ecosystem. They helped the vegetation by killing elk. They helped the small animals by killing coyotes, bringing the ecosystem into balance.

The elk were so over populated that the wolves had as much food as they wanted. The wolves pushed the elk to safer areas of Yellowstone because the wolves were eating so many of them. Elk were ruining the vegetation and wildlife by eating, trampling and pooping on it, so the conditions of living were way more likely to kill elk than if the wolves were there to prey on them.

The elk population could not stop rising in a steady ark until the wolves were reintroduced. The wolves helped everything by killing elk and coyotes. Killing those animals made space for better things like beavers and foxes. The elk started to move out of the open space and then the vegetation began to grow back, reinforcing river beds and streams by the roots weaving their way under the beds of rivers. This gave beavers the chance to make a beaver pond and raise young. The coyotes dying made room for more variety of animals like fox and weasel.

Wolves have been spotted in the mainland European countryside. Wolves have rebounded from extinction. They live all over the globe except the rainforests and seas. Bringing wolves back into Yellowstone sent the message that wolves and humans can live side by side, breaking the barrier placed centuries ago.

Pasqua, John. "Wolves Are Mercilessly Targeted For Their 'Bad Reputation' – 
     Here's How We Can Stop That." Our Green Planet, 1 May 2018