Incredible footage of wolves hunting a beaver
Some incredible footage of two wolves killing a beaver this April in Estonia. Now, you might be wondering: why on earth are we sharing a video captured more than 4,000 miles away on a different continent?
The reason is to illustrate that beavers are important prey for wolves in a variety of ecosystems across the Northern Hemisphere. When we share our research on wolf-beaver interactions, folks sometimes think wolves hunting beavers is a unique quirk of the wolves in our area, not something that happens in many other areas.
But the reality is, across large expanses of North America and Europe, beavers are important prey. For instance, studies have found that beavers constituted a substantial portion of the diets of wolves in many areas including Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Northwest Territories, Alberta, Manitoba, British Columbia, Quebec, Ontario, and Alaska.
Obviously, the extent to which wolves rely on hunting and killing beavers likely depends on many factors such as the size of beaver populations and other prey populations. However, the lack of research on the topic leaves the question unanswered.
Indeed, the relationship between wolves and beavers has received very little attention because it is a difficult relationship to study, and because most wolf-prey studies focus on how wolves hunt, kill, and impact socially-important ungulate species like moose, deer, elk, and caribou. Not many care how many beavers wolves kill…in fact some wish they would kill more!
For more than a decade, a large focus of our research has been to understand the complex and fascinating relationship between wolves and beavers. Such work is without a doubt the most intensive research ever undertaken on this predator-prey relationship, and our work has revealed many insights.
And we have many questions to answer still, some that will take many more years to answer. The answers to these questions are not just relevant to our small little corner of Minnesota, but to a large swath of the northern hemisphere where wolves hunt and kill beavers routinely.
To continue this research, we need donor support because donors are one of our biggest sources of funding. If you value this kind of research and want it to continue, please make a donation to our project here: https://crowdfund.umn.edu/campaigns/VWP2026
Lastly, huge thanks to Janek Joab who captured this incredible footage and allowed us to share it on our social media. Absolutely incredible stuff!
@henryrodgers1752
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
Overall, what is the success rate of wolf hunts, I wonder? They don’t miss on too many, it seems.
@reigndyr
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
Collaborating with other wolf-based projects in order to study wolves as a whole and compare different ecosystems while also coming closer to understanding the natural wolf is such a wonderful use of your social media presence.
@redWolf-r1t
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
Current situation in Japan: Destruction of ecosystems
@redWolf-r1t
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
↓ecosystem
@awedelen
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
Remarkable, very cool.
@air4334
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
I hope the Beaver won !!!!
@johanrebel
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
Felines have an advantage over canids: their paws and claws are very effective weapons. Canids have only their jaws to do the job, and this video shows that can be quite a struggle.
@just_space_
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
Really showing up that coyote from some time ago 😆
@medvedilesnyduch
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
Very rare footage. 🙂👍🔝
@LL-bl8hd
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
Beavers are tough. If there weren't too wolves it probably would have escaped.
@longforgotten4823
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
The battles that continuously go unnoticed by most of humanity, the vast majority of the time. This is life in the wilderness.
@djônedunbar7782
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
C'est chouette!!
Bon, c'est sûr qu'il y a des jours où il est préférable de ne pas sortir.
Ça fait vite chère l’ addition😬
Merci pour ce partage 👍
@Wetcobrasaresmelly
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
They’re so agile
@annienmn
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
We are catching coyotes with beaver kills on our trail cams. Love this camera's perspective, this channel really knows how to place a cam.
@manuelwebe
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
Great footage! They (wolves) have been doing this for millennia. Good to be able to see it. Thanks for sharing.
@4xzx4
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
Oh dear!
@Shr3w
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
An excellent sequel of sorts to the previous video with the coyote and the beaver.
@jojobegood
June 6, 2026 at 4:18 am
❤❤❤ préservons les
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