In the Lamar valley, the dead coyotes were the victims of nine resident wolves. But in a north-central part of the park called Blacktail Plateau, where only two wolves have set up shop, it's a different story. Wolf biologist Michael Phillips discovered last winter that this duo was killing far more elk than he would have expected. Subsequent research showed that a pack of six coyotes was driving the wolves off their kills, forcing them to hunt more frequently than they ordinarily would. One of Crabtree's studies suggests that, with wolves in the equation, elk, bison and moose numbers may be trimmed by 8 to 20 percent.
Coyotes are likely to decline, perhaps steeply.
The federal government released 17 more Alberta wolves into the park last April. This will increase pressure on the coyotes, but perhaps they will be up to it. The loss of wolves may have yielded a super coyote, so maybe they'll hold their own against the wolves. Or maybe they'll sink back to underdog status. That's one of the big questions that I hope to answer in the future.