Wild Wolf Spotted Using a Tool
A wolf in British Columbia has surprised researchers after being caught on camera using what appears to be a tool—something once believed to be a uniquely human behavior. The footage, published Monday in the journal Ecology and Evolution, shows a female wolf grabbing a fishing float from a waterway and pulling the attached rope until a crab trap rose to the surface. She then ripped open the trap and ate the bait inside, according to the Washington Post.
Researchers say this may be the first documented instance of a wild wolf using a tool, and it also helped solve a mystery that had puzzled the Heiltsuk Nation, whose traps for invasive green crabs had often been found emptied or destroyed.
Because some traps were set deep underwater, scientists had initially suspected marine mammals were responsible. “Our jaw dropped when we saw the video,” said ecologist Kyle Artelle of the SUNY College of Environmental Science. Another camera captured a different wolf tugging on a rope connected to a partially submerged trap, though the footage ended before the animal finished the job.
The findings have renewed debate over what counts as “tool use.” Some experts argue the term should only apply when an animal creates its own tool, like crows shaping sticks. Others say the key is manipulating or arranging an object intentionally—something they argue a wolf pulling on an existing rope may not qualify for.
Artelle disagrees, telling National Geographic that humans routinely use tools they don’t create themselves—computers included. NatGeo compared the discovery to a 2012 case in which a captive dingo dragged a table six feet to climb up and reach an object, noting the significance here is that the behavior was observed in a wild canid.
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