Even the authors believed salmon would be an alternative prey, reserved for times when deer were scarce.
Darimont said he and his team were “absolutely shocked” to find that the wolves seemed to prefer salmon in the fall, when the fish are migrating upstream to spawn.
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“The deer are there,” he said. “They could persist on deer.”
Ecologically speaking, Darimont is most excited about the fact that the wolves’ food choice is driven by the abundance of salmon, not the scarcity of deer. On reflection, he added, this strategy makes good sense.
“[Salmon is] safe, it’s nutritious, it’s spatially constrained. This buffet from the sea comes to them. They don’t have to search dozens of kilometers for deer. And it’s predictable. Those are some awesome qualities in a resource.