While Como Zoo’s Nicky and Cerberus are easy to spot, wild wolves can be elusive during the summer months. Not only does heavy summer foliage make them harder to see, but wolves are most active at dawn and dusk, saving their energy when the sun is at its peak.
If you’ve been camping in the north woods this summer, chances are good you’ve heard the eerie call of the gray wolf echoing in the distance. But it’s rare to actually see a wolf during the summer months—a fact that’s left gaps in our understanding of wolf behavior and ecology.
So what exactly do wolves do during the summer?
That’s the question driving the researchers with the Voyageurs Wolf Project, a University of Minnesota initiative aimed at creating a deeper understanding of the summer ecology of wolves in northern Minnesota’s Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem. Voyageurs Wolf Project is a research organization whose work contributes to wolf conservation. It’s a topic that’s also fascinated Tieran Rosefield, a former Como Zoo attendant turned temporary hoofstock keeper, who just earned a Conservation Champions grant from Como Friends to help support this nonprofit initiative.
“I’ve been a big fan of the Voyageurs Wolf Project and their research, and their mission to understand wolf populations and behaviors aligns with the conservation work that Como Zoo and Como Friends want to support,” says Rosefield. “As a keystone species, learning more about wolves and protecting wolves helps preserve entire ecosystems, from native plant communities to smaller animals like frogs, insects, and birds.”
As part of her pitch to Como Friends’ selective microgrant program, Rosefield suggested a contribution to support the Voyageurs Wolf Project’s nonprofit operations, combined with new interpretive signage at Como Zoo’s wolf habitat to teach visitors more about why wolf conservation matters. Though wolves sometimes get a bad rap, from fairytales to farmers concerned about predation, recent findings from the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park and other habitats show that wolves help many other species thrive, from boosting beaver populations, to protecting trees from over-browsing.
Raising public awareness about wolves and other conservation stories is also part of Como’s growing commitment to empathy-focused education, a campus-wide strategy aimed at deepening connections between Como’s visitors and animal ambassadors. Through Como’s growing partnership with Advancing Conservation through Empathy (ACE) for Wildlife, a nationwide learning network, Como’s education programs and interpretive signage are being updated to reflect the growing body of research that shows that fostering empathy with animals and plants is a powerful tool in building life-long conservation behaviors. Como Friends’ funding, as well as special projects like Conservation Champions, has helped to drive the initiative, which will continue this year with updated signage for polar bears and other animals.
To cap off her Conservation Champions project, Rosefield also created a new keeper talk to highlight what’s happening with Como Zoo’s animal ambassadors, Nicky and Cerberus, and to share new findings from the Voyageurs Wolf Project and other wolf conservation efforts. “I feel like wolves are a little underappreciated, and so I wanted to call attention to this really important species,” she says. “Wolves are highly contended all over the world, and that is why I wanted to bring attention to this incredible species. I also wanted to bring attention to the work done by the Voyageurs Wolf Project, because their research can provide the framework for our care here at Como as well as conservation efforts in Minnesota. I would love to see what else they can do with a little help from Como.”
Your gifts to Como Friends support Conservation Champions, a program that encourages Como’s professional horticulture and zookeeping staff to participate in field conservation and restoration projects around the world. Thank you!
