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Mortality of roe deers in the early spring partly covers the feeding needs of wolves and thus, perhaps, the surviving animals might feel a bit safer.
Leinu, March 2013

 

Snowdrifts along roadsides have collapsed and snow around the trees has „sunken“. It`s frosty at nights, sunny during daytime and already with some degrees above 0°C.

Winter, which does not seem to be in any hurry with its final departure, was otherwise an average one. There have always been individuals among organisms living in the wild, including game animals, for whom the cold season marks the end of earthly existence. For example, winter-time mortality of medium-sized ungulates – roe deer, peaks in March in Estonia and is caused by physical exhaustion.

 

One man`s misfortune is another man`s fortune. Consequently, many small predators and birds of prey are able to find nourishment which is ever so necessary. This is also clearly visible in the wolves`feeding habits. In the first half of the winter and in the dead of winter wolves feed mostly on prey hunted by themselves, but in the early spring as much as half of the their food may come from carcasses found in the forest.