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Danielle Gailey
Professor Michael Young
Biology 1615
11/12/15
Wolf presence in the ranch of origin (Journal of animal science)
Grey wolves have recently been reintroduced to Yellowstone national park, this lead to
the dispersion of wolves in areas near Yellowstone. As a result the wolves started to inhabit and
hunt in livestock grazing areas which increased the number of cattle getting injured or killed.
Cattle-wolf interactions are not only a physical problem, even just the presence of the wolves
alters the temperament of the cattle. More specifically, fear of predation may alter cattle
temperament and stimulate adrenal corticoid synthesis (Laporte et al., 2010; Boonstra, 2013),
which have been shown to negatively impact health, productive, and reproductive parameters in
beef cattle. (Cooke et al., 2009, 2012; Francisco et al., 2012) Knowing this information the
scientists hypothesized that wolf presence near cattle herds stimulates behavioral and
physiological stress responses, particularly from herds of cattle who were previously attacked by
wolves. Hence, the objective of the experiment was to evaluate temperament, vaginal
temperature, and plasma concentration of cortisol in groups of cows that have never encountered
wolves before and groups of cows that are experienced with wolf attacks. The cows were
experimentally exposed to auditory, olfactory, and visual stimuli designed to simulate a wolf
encounter.
The method they used to test their hypothesis was a simulated wolf encounter which
involved fifty cows from Idaho (WLF cows), that had experienced real wolf attacks and fifty
cows from Oregon (CON cows), that had never encountered wolves before. Those cows were

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split into to five subsets with twenty cows in each group meaning ten WLF cows and ten CON
cows. The scientists ran the stimulation test for the five groups of cows over the span of two
days. Before starting the stimulation they made sure to take the initial temperature, plasma
cortisol and temperament score of the cows being tested. Then they did a stimulated wolf
encounter which lasted for twenty minutes and consisted of three things: (olfactory) cotton plugs
soaked with wolf urine that were attached to the surrounding fence, (auditory) continuous sounds
of wolf howls, and (visual) three leashed dogs that were walked along the fence perimeter.
Immediately after the stimulated wolf encounter they tested the chute score, exit velocity,
temperament score, plasma cortisol, and vaginal temperature of each of the cows. Although it
was only a stimulation of a wolf encounter I feel that the method used was done properly and it
was a good way to find the results they were looking for. They made sure to include the 3
different senses (olfactory, auditory, and visual) during the stimulation in order to make it seem
more like a real encounter and get more accurate results.
The results of the testing is shown below

In conclusion, as you can see from

the
results the scientist hypothesis was correct.
When put through the stimulated wolf

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encounter test the cows who had been preyed on or encountered wolves before (WLF) became
more afraid and had a more stressed reaction than the cows who had never encountered wolves
before (CON) because the predator was unfamiliar to them. Therefore, the presence of wolves
near herds of cattle not only results in more injuries and deaths of cows but it may also have a
negative impact on beef production systems due to the stress responses of the cows.
When I hear of cattle getting injured because of wolf presence I automatically think that
the wolf must have done physical harm but I found it interesting that even just the presence of
the wolves sparks something in the cattles brain that make them go into fear of predation mode.
This alters their temperament and negatively impacts health, productive, and reproductive
parameters in beef cattle. You can also compare this study to taking a test at school. Those who
have failed a test before are more likely to get anxiety during their next test and possibly blank
out on knowledge they already know.

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Work cited
Cooke, R.F., D.W. Bohnert, M.M. Reis, and B.I. Cappellozza. "Wolf Presence in the Ranch of
Origin." Journal of Animal Science. 24 Nov. 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.