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First footage of wolves eating raspberries

Voyageurs Wolf Project | April 3, 2026



The first footage of wolves eating raspberries, to our knowledge! We captured this footage last summer when the Bug Creek Pack pups spent a good while foraging for berries in this patch.

Of course, we have known for a while wolves eat raspberries as we have sifted through many scats full of raspberry seeds. However, we’ve never observed the behavior before.

Just a few months ago, before we were aware we captured this footage, we actually published a scientific paper on the “berry-eating” behavior of wolves.

The big takeaway from our study (link to study below!): based on our data, wolves foraging on berries in our area is an extremely widespread behavior and one that almost every wolf we have studied engages in when berries are abundant.

We have captured trail camera footage of wolves of all ages, sexes, and social statuses (i.e., breeding or subordinate wolf) from several packs foraging on berries.

All of this indicates “berry-eating” by wolves is likely pervasive across large portions of southern boreal ecosystems in places like Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec.

However, given the lack of summer research on the foraging ecology of wolves in these areas, we think this behavior has just gone unnoticed. Although, there is evidence based on scats collected in these areas that wolves are foraging on berries.

Now, it is important to understand why wolves eat berries and to not misconstrue this finding with the notion that wolves eat berries because they prefer berries over animal prey.

Wolves do not have digestive systems that are meant to digest plant matter and berries effectively. Thus, berries are almost certainly “starvation food” for wolves; as in, the wolves are starving and berries are the best option given the circumstances to stave off hunger and slow weight loss.

All this to say, wolves are not eating berries instead of other animals because they prefer berries over meat. We have no doubt that if a wolf had an option between a meal of berries or of deer/ beaver that it would choose the latter every single time.

Catching deer and beavers, wolves primary summer prey, is extremely challenging for wolves in late summer, and likely requires extensive energy expenditure.

Thus, instead of spending substantial energy hunting prey they likely cannot catch, wolves turn to berries, which are abundant, taste good, and likely make them feel full. In other words, all evidence suggests wolves are just eating berries to slow starvation and weight loss.

Read our recent study on the “berry-eating” behavior of wolves for free here:
https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.70035

Learn more about the Voyageurs Wolf Project:
Website: http://www.voyageurswolfproject.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/VoyageursWolfProject
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/voyageurswolfproject/
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Threads: https://www.threads.net/@voyageurswolfproject

Written by Voyageurs Wolf Project

Comments

This post currently has 33 comments.

  7. @nyquist5190

    April 3, 2026 at 4:43 pm

    I wonder if these puppies – when they grow up to be Big Bad Wolves – remember their careless days of youth with nothing to do but enjoy the summer and eat raspberries. 😅

  9. @jetcitygrljewels9719

    April 3, 2026 at 4:43 pm

    Love this. I used to live on mostly uncleared acreage in the PNW. It was approx 11 acres. We had a very healthy coyote population, and I observed berry-laden scat during the summer months. I also had my own dogs that would heartily engage in eating from our strawberry patch. They also enjoyed joining me on my blackberry picking escapades. I can only dream of seeing wolves. They are such beautiful and highly misunderstood creatures.

  12. @ZakTheFallen

    April 3, 2026 at 4:43 pm

    It's the same reason wolves, and many other mammals, will eat any fruit they can find. Even carnivores want the sugars and vitamins when it's available, and will choose the easy snack over spending their time and energy trying to hunt something. It's an important lesson that 'carnivore' does not mean they eat exclusively meat, it just makes up the majority of the their diet.

  15. @briseboy

    April 3, 2026 at 4:43 pm

    Seripus jalousy. These wolves were pups of the year.

    A larger wolf subspecies with which i am quite familiar does not function well at all ingesting non-animal macronutrients, getting gas and runny feces if ingesting.
    Wolves have interesting dietary preferences over the week or so. Organs, then meat, skin, then bones cracked and eaten. They differ strongly from dogs, in this abilityto turn bone into bone meal, and to tongue out or swallow grass which wraps splinters ( scat inspection is part of research. I've seen grass-wrapped bone splinters passdd through a wolf as quickly as within 1/2 hour!)

    3 days of fasting for a wolf does not seem to substantiallyhamper their energy, while, trying it, i am weak, handicapped.

    As researchers will tell you, wolves can pften subsist on carrion for up to 85% or so of their diet!
    Oncwe encountering a wolf nuzzling through thick grass, he looked up, a mouse or vole escaping from his mouth.

  19. @sharonkaczorowski8690

    April 3, 2026 at 4:43 pm

    Wonderful video…nothing quite like picking fresh berries! My dogs have always loved fruit. Though I did have a Bassett Hound who would pull a chair out, climb on the table, grab any bananas and stomp them into mush…really hated them, lol. Btw grapes are deadly for dogs to eat.

Comments are closed.

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