Ravens, Wolves, & People

Description

Wildlife professor John Marzluff will bring us an exciting program on recent work in Yellowstone National Park which looked at interactions between ravens, wolves, and people.  Ravens are known to scavenge food from wolves and people, but the relationship has not been well studied.

In 2019 Matthias Loretto and presenter John Marzluff began tagging ravens in Yellowstone with radio transmitters that are similar to the transmitter in your mobile device.  After tagging and following many ravens they were able to relate raven’s movements to the activities of people and wolves. From this the scientists gained a better understanding of the degree to which ravens rely on people and wolves.  Ravens have extensive knowledge of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem.  You will be surprised at the diverse ways they take advantage of human activities within this 6500 square mile area.  

For decades, John has done research on corvids- a family of birds that includes ravens, crows, jays, and magpies. His work has benefited birds all over the world, from pinyon jays in Arizona, ravens in Greenland and golden eagles and prairie falcons in Idaho to Washington State’s goshawks and the endangered Hawaiian hawk, one of the rarest birds in the world.