STUART BELL, GREY WOLF – Series 1 (ANIMALS 2026)

Persecuted by humans for centuries the true value of a “keystone predator” such as the wolf is only realised when it has been exterminated from regions because human ideals as being an undesirable predator. You need only study the Yellowstone NP catastrophe when the wolf was systematically extirpated by 1926. Over the ensuing decades the park collapsed in many areas from an ecological perspective because of the main predator being wiped-out. The wolves' reintroduction between 1995-1997, a top-down control mechanism, caused a trophic cascade, decreasing elk numbers and altering their behaviour, which allowed for the regeneration of vegetation and increased biodiversity.

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