The coast of British Columbia is struggling with a crab problem. But it appears that trying to control the crab problem has led to an unexpected wolf problem – revealing the surprising potential of wolves as intelligent crab thieves.
Researchers set up remote cameras to catch a mysterious crab thief, but they were unprepared for the scene that unfolded immediately after installing the cameras. They were astonished to see a wolf swimming out of the water with a crab trap in its mouth. From the video, it seemed as if the wolf had a very good understanding of how the trap worked, making it potentially the first documented example of a wolf interacting with the device.
A paper published November 17 in Ecology & Evolution presents a formal description of this novel behavior. As of now, researchers are not sure whether such behavior may be widespread in wolves; Accordingly, they describe this phenomenon as “potential” device use. However, if confirmed, it would add another layer to our understanding of wolf intelligence.
canid crab thief
European green crabs are notoriously finicky creatures, wreaking havoc on the local ecology. Since 2021, Canada’s Hyzaqaw Nation protectors have been installing crab traps to control the invasive species. But around 2023, they noticed something was stealing bait from the crab traps, leaving them either completely damaged or slightly torn.
This attack also took place against nets submerged in deep water, leaving the humans involved puzzled as to the identity of the culprit. Wolves were included in the list of suspects – along with bears, seahorses and the like – but researchers were still shocked by what they saw.
“In rapid succession, [the wolf] Drove the buoy to the beach, dropped it, waded down the beach, picked up the line, and pulled it up the beach until a net was partially out of the water,” the paper reported. The wolf then took the trap further in and proceeded to chew and manipulate the bait cup until it opened. The entire encounter lasted for about three minutes.
What’s more, the net was initially completely submerged in water and invisible from shore, “suggesting that the wolf had recognized that the buoy was tied to a rope, which in turn was tied to an invisible net containing edible bait,” according to the paper.
a mystery in progress
So far, researchers know that there are at least two wolves – the second observed during a follow-up investigation – capable of recognizing and breaking crab traps to steal bait. And that’s all they know. How wolves learned to do this, or whether all wolves can manipulate tools in this way, remains a mystery.
Researchers have some guesses. For example, haizakaw remove the net by lifting it vertically from the edge. Wolves could learn by watching the guardians and repeat this action by pulling the trap horizontally to the side. Alternatively, wolves may have noticed that the traps were visible during low tide and retrieved the traps later.
Furthermore, these wolves live in areas with minimal human activity. According to the paper, this raises the question of whether such sophisticated behavior “can be facilitated by relatively low levels of human oppression”.
That is, are wolves confident that stealing feed will not cause retaliation from humans? If so, what impact does this have on wildlife management – especially from an ethical perspective, if these wolves are far more intelligent than previously thought?
The researchers concluded, “While acknowledging caveats regarding overinterpretation of tool use as an indicator of intelligence, the sophisticated intelligence suggested here may lead to a reconsideration of common negative perceptions of this species.” They further stated that they intended to continue studying the area to “further elucidate the ecology, dynamics, and biocultural context of wolves, including some of the questions raised here.”